I was a little puzzled about the stab. Landis’s 1974 Model Rocketry article shows the stab mounted on top of the fuselage boom while von Kiparski’s 2002 redrawn plan has it underneath. I would assume on top was Landis’s actual design even if it weren’t for the photos accompanying the article, which are not the world’s clearest but I think there’s no question they show the stab on top.
But then that raises two questions: Why didn’t von Kiparski draw it that way… and why did Landis write ‘put one 1/8″ long piece of launch lug under the wing, one over the stab, and it’s built’? Maybe I’m reading too much into one preposition but to me that description of the launch lugs arrangement doesn’t make any sense if the stab is on top of the fuselage.
I went to YORF for advice and heard from a few people, including von Kiparski himself (‘Astronwolf’). I decided to do approximately what the 2002 plan shows: Stab reverse airfoiled and mounted under the fuselage, which is tapered to provide some decalage. Again, I’m pretty sure that’s not how the model shown in Landis’s article was built, but I’m not passing this off as a replica anyway.
Here’s the taper. It maybe should really be longer and a shallower angle. Maybe not.
I glued the wing on.
Then the tail. The rudder with the grain running across the short dimension seemed really flimsy, so I decided to try giving it a thin CA treatment first. Bad idea? Good idea? Who knows. Seems slightly less fragile though.
Rich's Rockets 