Edition: Model Aviation - 2012/09
Page Numbers: 93

Clark Salisbury was curious about park fl yers and
wanted to see what fl ying in a local park was
all about. However, he was unsatisfi ed with his
model’s fl ying times and began changing things on his
aircraft—increasing performance and fl ight time with
a different motor and battery pack. This increased the
weight, so he strengthened the airframe and changed
the wings and tail. A new model, the SkyCrawler, was
born.
The Lite Ply or poplar plywood construction pieces
were all cut with a scroll saw. Wing ribs were cut at the
same time from 16 stacked 1/8 sheet balsa pieces, while
tail surfaces were built by pinning and gluing all pieces
over the plans.
The fuselage stick construction began with gluing
the fi rewall and plywood engine mounts in place. The
landing gear support structure was built by laying 1/4-
inch dowels on the plans’ front view and cutting. The
fi ve-part wingtip process was the most time consuming
because it had to be completed one piece at a time.
The SkyCrawler was covered with Oracover. Clark
had never used it before and found that the wings
warped if they were not twisted before being covered.
Final model preparations included modifying the
gearbox to fi t the motor, using longer 2.5mm screws,
and using nylon ties to hold the battery and radio.
Servos were connected to the control surfaces with
thread, while the wing was held in place by four 8-32
nylon screws.
Power on the SkyCrawler was provided by a
Graupner Speed 480 with a 2.5:1 Red gearbox and
eight-cell 1200 mAh battery pack. How to install
the optional parachute-drop was also detailed in the
construction article.
Clark said the SkyCrawler’s 5 to 10 mph speed made
it easy to hand launch, but the launch must be straight
and level. Correct trim adjustments helped the model
fl y level. He noted, “It is not aerobatic, and it can’t be
fl own in anything but a light breeze—no more than 3
to 4 mph—but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a heck of a
lot of fun.”
The SkyCrawler was featured in the May 2001 MA as
AMA Plans Service listing 909 and is available for $14
plus shipping and handling. AMA members can access
the magazine’s digital Library on MA’s website to read
more about it. See page 145 or go to www.modelaircraft.
org/plans.aspx for ordering information.