Blue Max II
Swept wings and tip plates give this fun-fly design character
Some airplanes are not designed to be new concepts, but rather to fill a specific need more perfectly than those that already exist. This was the case when Jim Allen Jr. put pencil to vellum and created the Blue Max II.
Jim's desire was to come up with a fun-fly type model that would be more precise on the controls—especially at slow speeds—than the one he was flying at the time, would slow more quickly for landing, and still be light enough to have exemplary vertical-performance capabilities. That was a tall order!
To achieve those goals, Jim decided to use a swept-back wing in place of a straight wing. The swept wing, he reasoned, would give superior low-speed maneuverability and "go-where-you-point" qualities. He added tip plates to help keep the airflow on the wing for even more lift and stability in low-speed regimes.
All the preceding attributes were incorporated into an easy-to-build design that translates well today into a high-performance sport model for .40-size engines or conversion to electric power.
The Blue Max II construction article was published in the February 1985 MA. Plans are number 465D, and they come complete with a bill of materials.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
