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In the early 1960's Rene Fournier began developement of a
light aircraft with high aspect designed to use a modified
Volkswagen engine for power. His design became highly
sucessful and is now known worldwide as the very popular RF
series of motor gliders and trainers.
The RF-01 aircraft was the prototype designed by Fournier
as early as 1947 but was not built until 1960 when it won a
French Government award for its outstanding flight
characteristics.
An RF-2 was then built which improved upon the original
design in 1962, one of which is in the collection of the Air
Museum in Paris, France.
Designed in 1963, the RF-3 was another single seat
aircraft which asw manufactured by Alpavia, a jointly owned
company of Rene Fournier and Belgian Partner Antoine
d'Assche. Between 1963 and 1966, about 100 aircraft of this
type were manufactured.
In 1966 Fournier designed the RF-4 to be an aerobatic
version of its direct predecesor. 173 of this type were
manufactured under license by Sportavia, the company created
by Alfons Putzer in West Germany and desingated the RF-4D.
The first aircraft designed by Rene Fournier were known
for their high aspect ratio and single wheel retractable
undercarriage known from its use in gliders. Becuase of this
the name "avions-planeurs" was given by their designer and
has been adopted subsequently by many manufacturers, thus
giving birth to the motorglider type aircraft.
It is noteworthy too that the Volkswagen engine first
used in the type was first certified and proven reliable in
demonstrations by Rene Fournier.
In the past 30 years Rene has continued to be active in
aviation design, developing many other types including dual
seat and tandem seat aircraft and trainers including the
sucessful Slingsby T-67M, a composite aircraft manufactured
under license in Great Britain.
In all about 800 Fournier-designed aircraft have been
manfuactured and sold in more than 35 countries worldwide
and setting numerous long distance and duration records
around the globe.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks to the Soaring
Society of America (SSA), for permission to use text and
specs from their publications. More information on vintage
soaring craft may be found at their pages and in their
publications and those of the
Vintage Sailplane
Association.
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Fournier RF4-D Designed by Fred
Guilfoyle and Just Released Sept 1 2007!
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Fred
Guilfoyle displays his newly built Fournier RF-4
just prior to maiden flights earlier this year in
Washington State.
click
for larger image
Click
here to visit the RC Groups build log
Fred Guilfoyle ordered and
built one of our Schweizer SGS 2-8 / TG-2 models
designed by Steve Moskal over a year ago and posted
a great build thread on his model at RC Groups.
Almost a year later his next winter project was set
to be a quarter scale electric powered RF4-D
Fournier, an aircraft special to both he and I and
many others.
As the design and build
progressed on his RF4-D, Fred and I began to talk
about the possiblity of offering this model in kit
form and supplying his very well-drawn CAD plans
and well-engineered parts kits to others with a
similar fondness for this plane in quarter scale
for electric power.
The rest is history and now
after much time in developing very high quality
formed plastic parts for canopy and cowl and
thoughts of a robust CNC aluminum landing gear
still in the works, we have released this excellent
flying model.
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SPECS
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Span:
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115" (3.3m)
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Length:
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63" (127cm)
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Aspect:
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11:1
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Area:
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1168 in.2
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All up weight:
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9 lbs.
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Wing loading:
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18 oz./ft.2
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Airfoil:
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Clark Y phillips
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Scale:
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1:4
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No. Servos Req'd:
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5-7
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POWER:
AXI 4120/18 - 6S1P
Neu Energy 4900 with Castle Phoenix
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FUNCTIONS:
Rudder, Elevator,
Spoiler, Ailerons, Retract
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PARTIAL
KIT CONTENTS
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All balsa and plywood wing ribs,
Plywood Fuselage side doublers,
Fuselage bulkheads,
Canopy bows,
Vac-formed plastic canopy,
High quality epoxyglass engine cowl,
1/8" plywood retract kit
Plans, 2 sheets 36" x 100", rolled.
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HARDWARE
PACK CONTENTS
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Lightweight wheel/tire 3-1/2" dia,
Steel wire axle, 5/32",
Dura collars 5/32",
1" dia. tail wheel,
4-40 x 1 1/4" stab mounting bolts,
Hinges, nylon large,12,
Pushrods (tails) 2 48" length,
3/8" 7075 T6 aluminum wing rod,
13/32" OD brass joiner sleeve,
1/4" harwood dowel wing pin,
1/4" nylong wing mounting bolts,
5/32" OD brass incidence sleeve.
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REQUIRED
TO COMPLETE MODEL
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Wing and fuse 3/32" balsa sheet,
Spruce wing spars,
Balsa wing leading edge,
Balsa shear webs,
3/8" and 1/4" sq. balsa and spruce,
Adhesive epoxy and CA cements,
Covering, fabric or film,
Servos, wires, battery and receiver.
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