PARTS LIST

1. Plastic BT-55 nose cone (Estes Bull Pup Style)
2. BT-55 body tube (2 pcs. 4 1/4" long)
3. BT-55 stage coupler
4. BT-5 body tube (5 pcs. 2 3/4" long)
5. BT-20 body tube (1 pc. 2 3/4" long)
6. BT-50 body tube (1 pc. 2 3/4" long)
7. 1/8" or 3/16" launch lug
8. 1/8" balsa sheet (wings and pylon core)
9. 3/32" balsa sheet (stabilizers and rudder)
10. 3/32" plywood (centering rings)
11. 1/16" plywood (pylon sides and stiffeners)
12. 1/8" X 1/2" spruce (fuselage cut to 18")
13. Material to construct 2 ea. 2 3/8" motor can hooks.
    (My material of preference is the metal stiffeners
    inside some windshield wipers)
14. (optional) Material to construct 7 motor hooks. 
    (same material as above)
15. 1 1/2" crepe paper streamer material 6 feet long
16. Kevlar shock line 4 feet long
17. Material to laminate motor can hooks to the side
    of the pod body tube (ripstop nylon is perfect)


CONSTRUCTION


I am going to assume that you are a modeler that has
experience building scratch/complicated models, so I am
going to keep the instructions to a minimum. But if you
need any help feel free to e-mail me at
Rockmanzzz@aol.com

1. Cut out all parts from template sheet in quantities
   as noted.
2. Construct all motor cans with the forward end of tubes
   flush with the forward centering rings. (if motor hooks
   are desired, you will have to cut slots for them in 
   the rear centering rings) Glue the rear centering 
   rings on so that you have a total height of 2 3/8"
   from the front end of the forward centering ring to
   the back end of the aft centering ring. (you will
   have an extra 18mm centering ring left over that will
   be used later) Do not make the fillets on the back
   end of the aft centering ring too large and you might
   want to wait on these fillets till the motor can
   hooks are in place and test fitted in each can
   configuration.
3. Make motor can hooks 2 3/8" long and place on one of
   the BT-55 tubes with the inside of the hook even with
   the end of the body tube and cover the upper 1" of the
   hook with the laminating material. Glue the extra 18mm
   centering ring into the tube on the top of the motor
   can hooks making sure that there is a fillet *only*
   on the upper side (away from the hooks). Next glue the
   stage coupler in the tube with the kevlar shock line
   run inside and in between the body tube and the 
   coupler. Run the other end of the kevlar through the
   other piece of BT-55 tube and tie to the nose cone eye.
   Wrap enough tape around the nose cone shoulder to get
   a good friction fit, and place on the top of the BT-55
   tube. Make a loop knot in the middle of the kevlar line
   and tape it to the center of the crepe paper streamer
   with masking tape. Cut the hook section out of the 
   pylon sides and assemble the pylon using the sides,
   core, and a piece of paper cut to the shape of the 
   pylon core (the paper is to shim up the sides of the
   pylon to allow the 1/8" wide fuselage to slide in and
   out easily). Glue the pylon to the rear end of the
   body tube at a 90-degree angle to the motor can hooks
   and flush to the end of the body tube and fillet one
   side. Glue one of the launch lugs to the unfilleted
   side of the pylon flush with the end of the tube. 
   Using a launch rod for alignment, glue the other
   launch lug to the upper body tube section.
4. Round one end of the fuselage and starting at 9 1/2"
   from the round end, taper the fuselage down to 1/4"
   at the aft end and sand a half round on that end from
   the top. Also on the top of the fuselage, mark the 
   wing area at 6" and 9 1/2". The wing will sit in this
   area. Sand all edges (except the root) on the rudder
   and stabilizers round. Sand a normal flat bottom 
   airfoil on the wings (making sure to make one left
   and one right). Sand an angle on wing root edges so
   that when assembled, one wing will rise up 5" off the
   work surface when the other is flat. Glue the
   stabilizer parts together at the root edges. Glue the
   rudder to one side of the stabilizer assembly. Glue
   the stabilizer/rudder assembly to the underside of
   the fuselage. Attach the hooks to the side of the
   fuselage as indicated on the template sheet at about
   5/8" back from the rounded end using the pylon to
   align them. Fillet the outside edges of the hooks.
   Glue the wing together with the 2 1/2" dihedral per
   panel (5" total). Sand the bottom of the wing joint 
   flat to sit in the saddle area. Tack the wing to the
   fuselage in the middle of the two marks you made
   earlier and do a test glide. You might have to break
   the tack and reposition several times to get a good
   glide. When you are satisfied with the glide, mark the
   fuselage and break it away for final gluing. When
   gluing the wing on, you will want to have one wing tip
   higher than the other by 1/4". (one wing will rise 
   2 5/8" from the top of the fuselage and the other will
   rise 2 3/8" [adding the fuselage height will make the
   heights 3 1/8" and 2 5/8" respectively]). Glue a 
   stiffener to each side of the fuselage directly under
   the wing. Glue the other stiffeners to the bottom of 
   the wings flush against the stiffeners on the
   fuselage and trim the overhang on the front of the 
   wing. Put *big* honking epoxy coating/fillets on the
   stiffeners and you're ready to final trim and finish
   the model.


CONSTRUCITON NOTES

1. I used epoxy extensively in the construction of my
   model.
2. On the wings, I started out coating the rear edges
   of the wing with thin CA to keep it from splintering,
   a coat of clear dope on all balsa to further harden
   it, then a couple of coats of sanding sealer to 
   finish sealing the grain.
3. I used flourescent orange on my model, and I'm glad
   I did because of the one D12-5 flight that seemed to
   hang in the air forever and landed over a hill about
   a half a mile from the launch site (was a little 
   windy that day). If I had used a non flourescent color,
   I would probably never have found it.

FLYING THE MOD-U-LIPTICAL

I have flown the model on 5 different engine combos:
2 X A3-4T
2 X A10-3T
3 X A10-3T
1 X C6-5
1 X D12-5
All combos have worked well and I would venture to say
that it could also be flown on a B4-4 or a B6-4. Being
able to withstand a D12-5, I would venture to say that
it would work well on a D13 18mm RMS and *possibly* a 
low power E 24mm RMS.