The first plan set is for the Piper "Vagabond" by Wendell Hostetler. It is a cute little job. By that I mean the full size bird was small, two place, and you could stand between the wing and the tail and touch the trailing edge of the wing and the leading edge of the stab. I had a friend who purchased one of these brand new right from the factory in the late forties. In fact he flew to the plant in Pennsylvania and picked it out and flew back to Michigan. Sure was a cute little job. Two place all yellow, with a blue fuselage stripe and wheel pants. I forget the horsepower, but we used to fly it for a dollar an hour. That's cheaper than you can fly Radio Control today. He had it a couple of years, when he decided to get married, I remember at his Bachelor Party, I told him if he got married, he wouldn't have his airplane a year from the time he got married; six months later I was proven right.

I forgot to mention, that the fly-away price of the "Vagabond" FOB the factory at Lockhaven, Pennsylvania was just under $2,000.00.

Enough of old memories, let's get on with the plans... I'm truly getting old in years.

Wendell's plans are very good and are what we've come to expect from him. The fuselage is built up from quarter by three-eights Basswood longerons, with quarter by three-eights crossmembers and diagonal bracings on both top and bottom, from front to the tailpost. The firewall is one half inch plywood. A working cabin door is shown, a Kavan Twin is shown mounted on the firewall, but a Quadra 35 cc would also do the job. A CB tailwheel assembly is used. I believe the cowling is available from T&D Fiberglass Specialists. DuBro's new 6" Cub wheels would look great on this model, but you would have to go to a smaller size diameter wheel to use wheel pants, maybe 4 1/2 inch, CB wheels. The landing gear is of the single strut, that is one piece of wire, one quarter inch diameter but this particular gear lends itself very easily to a shock mounting, similar to what is shown in Don Godfrey's "Giant Steps" book.

The whole empennage is built from three-eights balsa sheet which I would change to "Built-up" construct with round aluminum tubing leading edge on the stab and trailing edge of the elevator, with hardwood on the hinge line. There are no guywires shown on the plans, but if I ever build this model I would install the guywires on the tail assembly.

The CG is clearly marked on the plans, along with servo installation and placement. Wing span is 9'-6" ...or 114 inches, and has an area of 2250 sq. ins. Estimated weight is from 20 to 24 pounds, with an average wing loading of 20 to 24 ounces per square foot. The airfoil appears to be of the Clark "Y" type. The left panel and the center section are shown on the plan.

The wing is built in three sections, with the center section built on the fuselage. This effectively cures the transportation problem. The center section has two boxes into which the outboard panel spares slide and are bolted down.

The two wing spares are from 5/16" x 1/2" Basswood, 1/8" balsa is used for the ribs. The ailerons are built up and are two-thirds the length of each panel, wing cord is 20 1/2", the leading edge is sheeted top and bottom back to front spar. It would be a simple matter to make a "D" section leading edge or make both spares the box type. At the very least I would use shear webs between the wings. Tip bows are from two laminations of three eighths balsa. The plan shows the aileron servos mounted near the ailerons, but I have never been able to bring myself to do that.

All ribs are capped with one eighth balsa.The center section is completely sheeted since it is built to the fuselage permanently, helps to strengthen the cabin area. A full size windshield pattern is shown. As far as I am concerned this is one very good set of plans and would build fast into an airplane you would thoroughly enjoy. Boy, I bet it would be great on floats. This model would in my opinion be great covered in Solartex Yellow, with a coat of clear Epoxy to keep the fabric from becoming dirty and stained. Good job Wendell, you sold me on an airplane I'd almost completely forgotten about. For more info, see Wendell's Web Page.