I saw a sketch of the the Flick-Reining Apteroid (apteron means literally no-wing in the language of Pericles) in a yellowed-paged book titled “Airplanes of the World”, by Dawydoff and Rolfe. Years went by until recently a post on the Aerodrome forum shed more light on the matter. Not that a 3 view appeared, mind you, but just a blurry photograph and patent papers, for which nevertheless I am immensely grateful.
Using those abundant references I concocted a 3 view and
finally decided to get at it.
Now, it may be “Apteroid” –wingless- by name, but believe
me, that didn’t sound right when I had to make the varied flying surfaces,
which were double-surfaced as per patent description. Of course this model
involved some speculation, but that’s the only way to deal with these very
arcane machines that surely deserve a place in history (and the shelf).
A Sculpey-made fuselage master was fabricated for the
vacuformed parts to be made, and the rest of the model was also scratchbuilt. As
per photos a cockpit interior was provided.
The sketch on the book depicts two occupants, but the photo
and the patents seem to aim at just one, and that is what I did. Once the
fuselage shell was closed, the engine compartment was cut out and its contents
-engine and radiator- built, as were the six spoke wheels. A wood prop was
carved and stained.
Once more or less all the parts were lying down on my
building board, a strategy had to be devised to put them all harmoniously
together. I know, “harmoniously” is an expression of desire. This is –believe
it or not- a biplane, not a side-to-side, span-wise biplane, but a fore-and-aft
biplane. Or perhaps a sesquiplane, given the fact that the lower “wing” is less
than half the size of the top one.
It made sense not to proceed as usual (being this model
itself not really “usual”) and attach the wings to the fuselage, but to operate
vice-versa, since the configuration was very “cagy” –pun intended-.
I managed to confuse myself and had to do a couple of parts
twice, but that aside construction didn’t mandate a visit to the Shaolin temple
to reestablish peace of mind.
Although it has no wings, the twelve “flying surfaces” kept
me busy, and they were painted before general assembly proceeded and so was the
embryonic fuselage.
As per images two main assemblies were prepared, and then
united with the struts. Lots of struts. Additional parts were added and the
rigging finished all.
Look mom, no decals!
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