Whats the next best thing to two wings and a round engine? It has to be one wing and a round engine. Woody Frantz of 9126 East 67th Court, Tulsa, Oklahoma has a very nice plan set for the Kinner Sportwing. This is a jazzed up version of Dave Reids' Kinner Sportster (to be reviewed in the Fall Issue) from DGA Designs, 135 East Main Street, Phelps, NY.

To prevent any confusion, these are two different aircraft by two different people. Woody's Kinner Sportwing has Ryan ST type landing gear fairings and other goodies to make it different between an Old Delta 88 and a 98 Regency.

The Kinner Sportwing comes in three plan sheets, folded. If you want rolled plans send 12.50 more. I thing it's worth the extra money. I've measured and figured the fuselage length at 72 1/2 inches. Wing Span is 102 inches, area is 1836 squares, giving a loading at the targeted weight of 22 pounds, of 27.60 ounces per square foot. A 2.3 C. I. Cobra engine is shown mounted. Fuselage is constructed of quarter square spruce longerons with balsa uprights and diagonals.

One eighth Lite-ply goes from the firewall to about the trailing edge of the wing and stringers on all sides are one-eighth by three-eighths with sanding to get the desired shape. Firewall is quarter inch ply. Landing gear is formed from V4 inch music wire, with brace wire of three-sixteenths inch music wire. Wheel spats, landing gear fairings and cowl are fibreglass obtained from T & D Fibreglass Specialists, 30925 Block, Garden City, Michigan 48135. Empennage is built up of balsa and hardwood with laminated edges.

The wing is built in one piece, with the right panel a reverse print of the left, The front spar is quarter square hardwood top and bottom with balsa sheet webbing. The rear spar is three-eighths by seven-eighths hardwood. Leading edge is sheeted top and bottom with three-thirty seconds balsa, thus forming a D-section leading edge. Leading edge is two laminations of half inch balsa, and sanded to shape. The landing gear mounts in grooved hardwood blocks mounted in the wing. The only shock absorbtion coming from the four and a half inch DuBro wheels. Again it would not be very tough to engineer a spring shock system into the landing gear near the axle. I have already figured it out. Aileron servos are shown mounted near the aileron, so if you go this route you'll need a filter of some sort. The third plan sheet shows a fuselage top view and other parts patterns, with rib patterns. Wing struts are functional as they are on all BIG Birds. These struts could easily be made with K & S streamlined tubing. All in all a very sexy looking BIG Bird. I'd like to have it in my hangar.