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Northeast Sailplane Products
Electric slow-flyer ARF by John Tracey
he Virus 400A is the largest of "^"
Northeast Sailplane Products'
(NSP's) series of Virus park flyers.
It's designed as a lightly loaded trainer, and it
has a huge, flat-bottom wing with giant barn-door
ailerons. A 57-inch wingspan adds to its stability. The unique
style of its swept-up wingtips and teardrop-shape fuselage combines to create an attractive plane. The tail boom is formed
of dual carbon-fiber tubes for strength and lightness. Virus 400A comes equipped with a Speed 480 motor and an MP Jet
3.5:1 reduction drive. It also comes with a propeller and landing gear with lightweight foam wheels. The plane is covered
with iron-on Solarfilm.
WING CONSTRUCTION
Building the Virus 4OOA is pretty basic;
the written instructions include diagrams
to help you build the model. A few details
are omitted from the instructions, but if
you use your common sense, you'll have
no problems building the plane.
The first step is to join the wing halves.
A small metal rod reinforces the joint
between the halves. The rod slips into a
62 MODEL AIRPLANE NEWS
small brass-tube sleeve in each wing half.
After using 5-minute epoxy to join the
wing, I wrapped the joint with clear tape
for extra reinforcement. When finished,
the wing is more than strong enough for
any maneuver this plane will do.
The "A" in Virus 400A stands for
"ailerons," and NSP is not kidding. The
huge barn-door ailerons account for 30
percent of the wing chord, and each is
controlled by an individual servo. One of
the advantages of this setup is that it
allows the ailerons to be mixed with a
computer radio and used as flaperons for
very slow landings and short takeoffs. I
recommend that you use servos with at
least 14 ounces of torque; I used Cirrus
CS-20BB Sub Micros. If you don't have a
computer radio, you can use a Y-connector
to connect the aileron servos to the