Schweizer 1-21 (formerly 1-32)

[lastvautour]

I will start a cook up in the cook-up section. Scale is up to the builder. I favour 1/32 for this size aircraft.

Lou

[Jim]

Jim, what scale is your glider. I wrongly assumed that it was 1/32 scale due to the production number. I only realized my error when you wrote in the 1-26 model that the bell finally rang.

Lou

Lou:

Your question got me thinking -- and questioning some things I'd taken for granted -- and now I'm afraid I've discovered that I've built something quite different from what I'd thought I had done! Bear with me, please...

In checking back, it appears that I found the plan for this model right here on this very site, where it's described as a "Schweizer 1-32 Glider," as published in a 1948 issue of  Air Trails magazine (See: http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=4871).

However, a thorough on-line research discloses that there never was any such animal as the Schweizer 1-32!

"Hunh?" you might say. And well you might...

Further research shows clearly that this plan actually depicts one of the TWO production Schweizer 1-21's built in 1947. See: http://www.scalesoaring.co.uk/RCSD/pdfs/Schweizer_1-21/Pages%20from%20RCSD-2007-11.pdf  It's a dead ringer, right down to the striping on the side of the fuselage.

It appears the 1-21, however handsome it may have been aesthetically, and handy to fly, just came with too high a price tag ($2,700) to make it in the post-war economy. According to the writeup, Schweizer received initial orders for only two, but decided to go forward with production anyway in hopes the 1-21 would sell itself. It didn't, but the two built appear still to be around today, and both were still flying in 2008. Furthermore, the 1-21 design served as the basis for the nearly identical, highly successful, and more affordable ($2,000) model 1-23, which remained in production from 1948 to 1967.

All of which brings us back to the question: How'd this thing get so fouled-up?

I'm just speculating now, but consider this:  We all know how magazines of the 1930s and 40s often jumped to conclusions in the rush to get to press ahead of their competition. Just look at the illustrations and plans for military planes during the period, when governments and manufacturers kept details as secret as possible, while releasing just enough in the way of images or narrative writeups to satisfy public demand for information. Often the pictures were doctored to obscure details, or the narratives deliberately spiced with inaccurate "facts". When detaiuls were lacking, writers and artists routinely filled them in from their own imaginations and presumptions, just to get something they could sell to the publishers, and the publishers went with them in the belief that anything, however inaccurate, was better on the newsstand than nothing. Another good example is the "Spotter Series" of identification models:  There are one or two Axis planes in that series that simply never existed!

I have a feeling that's what happened with the 1948 Air Trails plan for the so-called "Schweizer 1-32". Note that nowhere on the plan does it actually SAY "1-32" -- only the doubtful claim that the plan depicts a "quarter-inch version of America's most popular sailplane," which sounds a lot like P.R. hype to me. I'm guessing the artist who drew the plan saw something like the Schweizer ad for the 1-21 (shown in the article: http://www.scalesoaring.co.uk/RCSD/pdfs/Schweizer_1-21/Pages%20from%20RCSD-2007-11.pdf) and based his "most popular" claim on that sales pitch. It sure looked like a winner, didn't it? Furthermore, I think the plan, as posted on this website, was simply mislabeled by somebody who conflated 1/32 scale with the model number of the aircraft.

As for the scale of the model as built, it has a 14-1/2-inch wingspan, and the article says the 1-21 sailplane had a wingspan of 51 feet. I don't know what that works out to in scale terms. My brain hurts too much to work it out. Somebody else want to try it?

Note from Lou
The drawings were mislabelled. That has been rectified and an instruction sheet has been added.

[Mark Braunlich]

51 feet is the same as 612 inches.

612 inches =  42.2  
14.5 inches

Scale therefore is 1/42.2

[lastvautour]

I have had that happen on several occasions where the data was incorrect, however the model turned out superb.

Lou

[Jim]

Thank you, Mark and Lou. 1:42.2 sounds kinda weird. I suppose the page got re-sized to fit an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet.

[lastvautour]

I will revise the Model of the Year post to show 1/42 scale or Box Scale if you prefer.

Lou

[lastvautour]

The Schweizer 1-32 drawing has been re-labelled as 1-21 as they should have been originally. There is also an instruction sheet that has been uploaded to the Air Trails album giving directions on building it. Thank you Dave T for pointing this out and submitting the instruction sheet.

Lou