Website: http://www.rubber-power.com

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Website http//www.rubber-power.com Article by
Bill Kuhl http//www.scienceguy.org Special
Thanks to Darcy Whyte for all his help!
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No one that I know of in recent years has done
more to promote model aviation both in person and
over the Internet than Darcy Whyte, the designer
of the Squirrel rubber powered free flight
model airplane.   The Squirrel design is so
simple yet its design is ingenious in that it
can be built so quickly and helps novice builders
avoid many problems common to other beginner
airplanes.   I have never met Darcy in person as
he lives far away in Ottawa Canada but we
converse regularly via the Internet. Darcy Whyte
is a software developer specializing in Social
Media and Internet systems, his model aviation
website has been a great candidate for
experimentation in honing his Internet
presence. His website URL is http//www.rubber-pow
er.com.   Darcy has provided most of the pictures
for this article and has been wonderful about
answering my questions. Please pass the link to
this article on to anyone that might be
interested.   Bill Kuhl  -  AMA Cub/Delta Dart
website and Scienceguy.org
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The Ideas that Became the Squirrel
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Darcy tested the winglets in a sheet balsa plane.
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Darcy experimented with tip dihedral before
trying the winglets.
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At this point he was building  by pinning to
building board but later glued balsa directly to
tissue.
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Prototype with Wing Spar
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Build process with wing spar.
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Close up picture of a winglet, winglet eliminates
the need for dihedral.
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Wing is flat which makes for easier building and
less breakage.
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A really novel feature that is used with the
vertical fin and stabilizer is to use only a
leading edge of balsa and no support for the
tissue on the trailing edge, this eliminates at
least two additional pieces of balsa for each
surface.
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Popular AMA Cub plane uses dihedral, wing halves
angle upward from the center.
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With dihedral joint, wings often break in the
center joint.
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AMA Cub stab requires three pieces of balsa with
angle joints.
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Squirrel Website

• http//www.rubber-power.com

The website for the Squirrel is a wonderful
resource for building information, ordering
Squirrel kits, and interesting information about
model aviation.
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Kit components
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Darcy delivers Squirrel kits by motorcycle in his
local area.
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Box of Squirrel kits
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Novice builders often have trouble cutting and
fitting angled joints but the Squirrel has no
angles in the balsa joints.
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Building the Squirrel
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The Squirrel is built with fast drying craft glue
and glue stick which are easy to find, dry
relatively fast, and is safe to use.
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Flying the Squirrel
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Flying indoors
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Flying outdoors
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The Groups that have Built Squirrels
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The Squirrel model plane has been popular with
scout groups throughout the world.
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Darcy has given speeches to professional groups
such as inventors and creative thinkers about
design, manufacturing the kits, and marketing.
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Slater Harrison

• http//www.sciencetoymaker.org

During the summer of 2009 Darcy visited Slater
Harrison who's a school teacher in Pennsylvania
who has been building Squirrel model airplanes as
part of his science classes. They met on-line
when Slater discovered the Squirrel design and
started to build them with his students.
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One of Slaters happy classes that built
Squirrels.
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Darcy and Slaters son build Squirrels
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Slater and Darcy
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Slater holds a walk along glider, glider rides
on a wave of air provided by a person walking
with a piece of cardboard.
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This glider was built almost entirely from paper.
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Slater prepares to release the glider and begin
walking.
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Darcy has brought his Squirrel model airplane
design before more diverse groups than anyone I
know of. He has managed to combine model airplane
building, adult beverages, and socializing to
coed groups in the local pubs of Ottawa. 
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Darcy has been building model airplanes with a
variety of groups for many years, in the above
pictures he had not yet perfected his Squirrel
design at this session for nursing home group.
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Mods
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Several people have sent Darcy pictures and
descriptions of how they have modified the
Squirrel design including biplane versions and
Squirrels that are much larger. See website
Gallery for further details.
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The End
http//www.scienceguy.org Bill Kuhl
email scienceguy33_at_gmail.com