Baking the Brown Potato
Calling a plane a “potato bug” doesn’t seem to be very
polite, does it?
In any case, the prominent canvas surface ribbing caused by
the underlying tubular structure in a sort of beetle-like fuselage prompted the
nickname.
Unusual and beautiful are two qualities that seem to go
together when dealing with designs from the Golden Era of aviation. These
unrecognized, sometimes ridiculed daring steps into the unknown spawned decades
later “cutting edge” designs and in doing so ridiculed the ridiculers.
The Ben Brown SC Diamond Wing is, as part of its name
indicates, a jewel. Aerofiles has some notes on it: http://www.aerofiles.com/_bo.html
scroll down once there to find the entry.
And since we are at it, Aerofiles is one of the many sites
that provide you with quality information and fun in the same large amounts.
These sites are usually the work of love of unrecognized individuals or groups,
so let’s take a minute to thank them and, if you can, support them too.
Long hours on the Internet finally paid off when I found
this Youtube clip showing the SC flying wonderfully, among many other creative
designs of the time:
Funnily enough, in doing the research some sources stated
that the “Potato” –and many of its clip companions, by the way- never or barely
flew. Or perhaps made a “hop”. Well, hop my building board, if I may say so.
These guys REALLY flew.
Structurally an aerodynamically sound (hey, have a look at
the “new” designs around) the so called Potato Bug also flashes its attractive
lines that make it a wonderful scratch project.
As you can see in the accompanying images first a Sculpey
master was made, then detailed, and promptly Vacu-Mattelized.
A 15 minute engine was fabricated to replicate the inverted
Cirrus and an interior was added, taking in consideration that the control column
was hanging from the roof, as seen in the clip.
The flying surfaces of this biplane…sorry,
tandem…err..triplane? well, whatever this may be, were made from styrene sheet
and rod, as well as the vertical stabilizer.
Wheels came from a generous vac donor and metal tail wheel
and prop were acquired across the ocean. Struts came from the same source.
In the clip you can see the SC with registrations at least
on the fin (X682H). The fin/rudder area and presumably the flying surfaces are
of a lighter color than the fuselage. In other images it appears of a uniform
color and has a very light color stripe running longitudinally on the fuselage
sides, ending in a diamond at the nose.
As a starting point I used a two-view drawing in nuricom.de.
It needs adjustments in a few areas; most noticeably is the absence of the aft
elevators (visible in many photos) and the windows area. The missing –“other”-
side view should show the cockpit door and a different engine panel/cover. Notice
that you may add a Pitot tube as per photos. A frontal view should show the
particular arrangement of the landing gear struts and the “V” formed by the
“Bellanca” type, airfoiled struts joining the lower fuselage in a sort of
inverted pylon.
The clip also shows an air “scoop” intake on the left
fuselage side, immediately after the engine cover. Why you need airflow after
the engine area, I don’t know. Perhaps a radiator or cooler was involved,
located after the engine inside the scarab-like fuselage.
Another missing detail is a window on the cockpit roof,
visible in photos. Engine covers were made of aluminum sheet. Had to make each three
times until I got it right (experimenting with the aluminum thickness). Construction
miscellanea aside, this was an interesting project to work with. The strange
configuration and the remarkable esthetics kept the flame going.
As they say: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
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