Ace Simple Citabria by Steven Swinamer

An article about Fred Reese's Simple Citabria appeared in the November 1984 issue of R/C Modeler magazine. It is a balsa model that uses the constant chord Ace foam wing, with a span of 35 inches and a flying weight of around 20 ounces when powered with an .049 engine (Black Widow or TeeDee) and a miniature 2-channel radio. The foam wing panels were until recently available on eBay, but not at the moment. Laser Design Service offers a short kit of the Ace Simple Citabria if you are not into cutting your own parts from balsa sheets, and they also offer a balsa built-up version of the foam wing. The RCM article can be found here. You can look for a copy of the November 1984 R/C Modeler on eBay.

Steven Swinamer, who has provided similar photos for a few of his other creations*, sent along these photos of the building process of his Ace Simple Citabria. If you haven't figured it out by now, Steve has a penchant for scratch-built, 1/2A-sized R/C model airplanes. Says Steven about his Simple Citabria:

"I have the original magazine and plans ordered back in the day from RCM. Now they are available on the Internet. It is a pretty simple and quick building design hence its name, but flies remarkable well and can take a lot of abuse without damage because they are so light. Every landing is dead stick and sometimes you don't quite judge it right and go in the bushes which is half the fun of it. But eventually you get good at it. You want to seal the wood around the nose as the castor oil in the fuel will lift the covering after a while. A simple 2 or 3 channel radio is all you need. I like seeing the antenna trailing out the back. It is amazing how responsive it is in turns and rolls with just rudder and elevator. I actually dialed the throws way down after the first flights. The guys with the big planes get a kick out of it being refueled with an eye dropper."

Plans for the Ace Simple Citabria can be downloaded free from the Outerzone website.