Span 40.5 cm / 16 in
Weight 41 g / 1.44 oz
The original Mitey Atom was a free flight model for the diminutive Cox Glo nitro engine, it was designed by Eric Clutton and published in the 1961 December issue of the Aeromodeller magazine. I especially liked its wing arrangement which seen from above or from below looks like an X as the front wing is swept forward and the rear wing swept back. Except for enlarging the original plan I drew an entirely new fuselage, a fuselage that looks a bit like a fat toad. I admit, it is not very elegant, but it does what it is made for. My Toad, alias Mitey Atom mod., glides superbly.
Eric Clutton’s Mitey Atom:
https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=11454
Building the balsa sheet chuck glider Mitey Atom mod.
Materials
Fuselage: hard B 1.5 or B 2; both wings: B 1; wing reinforcement strips: B 1; wing supports for front and rear wing: B strips 4 x 4; fins: B 1; fin leading edge reinforcement strips: B 1; fin supports: B strips 2 x 4; linen/cotton band width ½ in; ballast: piece of steel or lead.
Assembly:
Cut out balsa parts according to plan (photo). Sand meticulously. Transfer outlines of canopy with pen from plan to wood (photo). Cement reinforcement strips on leading edge undersides of all four wing halves using clamps, clothespins or needles. Cement reinforcement strips on the inner leading edges of both fins in the same manner (photos). Remove cement rests by sanding.
Fuselage.
Make cutouts for both wings. Cement all four wing supports in their positions. Use clamps, clothespins or needles (photo).
Fins:
Cement fin supports at the inner sides of fins. These supports sit under their (rear) wing seats, thus can only be seen from the underside (photo). Cement fins on both rear wing halves making sure a 90° angle is maintained and symmetry is obtained.
Wings:
Cement front wing halves one to the other according to plan thereby paying attention to given dihedral. Visual check to obtain best possible symmetry. See photo. Repeat procedure for rear wing. Use linen/cotton band for reinforcing wing half joints on top and bottom (photo).
Final assembly:
Put fuselage on a so called „third hand“. Glue front wing into its given position using needles to hold in place (photo). Remember to double check symmetry. Repeat procedure for rear wing.
Balance at given CG
Have fun with your Mitey Atom mod. which is a very stable glider. For altering direction of flight warp left or right rear wing up or down a little.
Sretan let svim mojim prijateljima! (hav en god flyvetur til alle mine venner!)
Allow me here some words on a dead-end model build.
May be some of you once made the same experience. You know in advance a modelling idea will fail, but despite this you go on, you finish that model and as expected – catastrophe happens.
Look at my model of the Mitey Atom mod.! What if, so I thought, if I reverse the sweptness of the wings (?). Of course, looks weird, looks odd, looks not goddamn right. But would be nice if…
So I sat down cut wood, cemented, finished the reversed fat toad and failed one hundred percent. At least it looks funny (photo) and new guests usually ask: „Caramba, don’t tell, this has ever flown?“
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