Well—the editors of KCFreeFlight.org had a huge dilemma. We found we desperately needed additional space on our Website to handle the extra volume of Dave’s massive amount of rolled up Drawings and Plans as you can see by the looks of his overstuffed Overhead Bin above—so we think we’ve come up with a solution . . . . and just in time !!! 😅
Yes—Dave’s at it again. His now very popular Web page, Dave’s Drawings — Gliders Etc., that débuted in 2020 with 312 visits—ended up last year with a whopping 1603 visits in 2022, coming in third last year for the most viewed Web page on the KCFreeFlight.org Website.
And now according to the number of visits so far this year for the year 2023 it has risen to the top of the list for the number 1 spot, actually overtaking the HOME page by quite a large margin !!!
So here’s our solution to this dilemma. 
RATHER THAN MESS WITH SUCCESS—WE DECIDED TO CREATE AN ENTIRELY NEW WEBPAGE FOR DAVE! 
This will hopefully accommodate his overflow of Drawings and Plans that he has miraculously managed to draw and or collect!
Check out DAVE’S growing list of Overhead Bin Drawings for 2023 !!! 🤗
DAVE’S OVERHEAD BIN DRAWINGS LIST
Back to DAVE’S OVERHEAD BIN DRAWINGS LIST
Design Guide for Hand Launched Gliders — by Keith Varnau (09-1997)
THE EMPIRICAL METHOD OF DESIGNING CATAPULT AND HAND LAUNCHED GLIDERS
Commentary by David Higgins
I found a drawing (Shown at left) based on Keith Varnau’s method of designing simple catapult and hand launched gliders. If you use his simple empirical formulas, you will have a stable flying glider. The drawing shows the wing and stabilizer both at 0 degrees incidence. To give the glider some positive pitch stability, which will allow the glider to pull out of a dive, a little “up elevator” must be warped into the trailing edge of the stabilizer. I have designed several gliders using Keith’s formulas and they’ve all had good stability in pitch, roll and yaw.
Regards,
Dave
BIN DRAWING 
Our third instalment to date. 2/21/2023.
This instalment was sent to us February 18th, 2023. As always we have included his thoughts on this which includes a bit of his own personal advice based on his own gained experience on the flying field.
“If you are serious about building gliders—
this should be of special interest to you.”
— David Higgins 2/21/2023 —
Click the above link or the drawing to download the file.
When you’re done—hit the back button 
on your browser to return.
Back to DAVE’S OVERHEAD BIN DRAWINGS LIST
BIN DRAWING 
This second instalment was added 2/3/2023.
The copy for this article about the Comet AYA-1 Glider was sent via email from Dave to the editors here January 18th, 2023. We are again including his written account unedited and think that it’s worth while. 😁
Click this link to download a PDF File of the Comet AYA Glider
Comet AYA 1 – Glider. You can also click the drawing above to bring up the file.
When you’re done—hit the back button on your browser to return
This copy has the added befit of the additional notes that were added to the drawing and also if you look closely, you’ll find the outline of the flattened “Wing Shape” that the original draftsman left out. Very useful indeed if you plan to make one! Leave it to Dave to make it his mission to “Right” some small “Wrongs” in this World !!! Kudos Dave. 😄
If you don’t have the arm strength to chuck a glider, you can modify it into a catapult glider by adding a hook near the nose of the glider and extending the back end of the body 3/4” for a hand hold. Oh, and by the way, watch out for those thermals!
Regards,
David Higgins
Comet AYA-1 Glider
Article by David Higgins
The Comet AYA-1 glider was the first kit in the “Air Youth of America” series produced by Comet Models in around 1940.
I built my first AYA-1 glider back in around 1994, and despite its short tail moment, it flew very well. I took it out to a local park (60 Acres) on a nice calm and sunny day, and I threw it several times. No matter how poorly I launched it, it would transition beautifully into a nice circular glide. A boy of around 10 years old saw me throwing the glider and I soon had him throwing the glider better than I could. After about an hour of throwing that glider, he told me that he had to go home for lunch and started to hand it back to me. I told him that the glider was now his to keep. He looked surprised, smiled, and thanked me before running off for home. I often wonder whatever happened to that kid.
I added to the plan (see attached pdf file) a flat pattern for the wing and some thickness dimensions for the wing, body, elevator (stab) and rudder. The body should be made from 9 to 12 pound per cubic foot density balsa. The wing and tail parts (rudder and elevator) should be made from 5 to 8 pound per cubic foot density balsa. You can glue heavy carpet thread to the wing’s leading edge for “ding” protection.
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Seattle A-6
Written by David Higgins.
David Aronstein designed the Seattle A-6 in the late 1980s. Back in 1993 I went to the Model Hobby Expo held in one of the large buildings at the Puyallup, Washington fairgrounds, and I saw an elderly gentleman winding up the rubber band on an odd looking model airplane and launching it.
At the time I didn’t know anything about indoor free flight, so I was amazed at how long the model circled the large table displaying this guy’s vast collection of beautifully built, small, rubber-powered model airplanes. I asked him if he had plans for this rubber powered model and he told me to take a look in his box full of plans.
Current HAFFA Member Dana Field’s new Seattle A-6 flew well at the January 7th 2023 Indoor Flying Session.
BIN DRAWING
Our first instalment débuted 1/14/2023
The copy for this article about the Seattle A-6 was sent via email from Dave to the editors here January 5th, 2023. We are including his written account unedited and think that it’s well worth the read. Enjoy!
Shown here is Dave’s 25 year old Seattle A-6 Model
I flipped through the stack of plans and found a copy of it and noticed that it was called the Seattle A-6 and that the man flying the model was Gil Coughlin, who had at one time made kits of this simple indoor model airplane. Gil told me to leave a quarter on the table to pay for the plan.
At the time I didn’t know anything about indoor free flight, so I was amazed at how long the model circled the large table displaying this guy’s vast collection of beautifully built, small, rubber-powered model airplanes. I asked him if he had plans for this rubber powered model and he told me to take a look in his box full of plans. I flipped through the stack of plans and found a copy of it and noticed that it was called the Seattle A-6 and that the man flying the model was Gil Coughlin, who had at one time made kits of this simple indoor model airplane. Gil told me to leave a quarter on the table to pay for the plan.
A few months later I joined BEAMS, the Boeing sponsored indoor free flight model airplane club, and I built and flew my first Seattle A-6. I was amazed at how well and how long it flew.
Seattle A-6 Designed by David Aronstein
The Drawing above was “INKED BY” David Higgins.
Click the drawing or the link above to download and print a PDF copy.
Unfortunately, a couple of years later I found out that my copy of the Seattle A-6 plan was slightly too big, making the wing a little over 30 square inches. I didn’t know who had the original Seattle A-6 plan, so I redrew the plan to the correct size. The wing’s center section chord should measure 2.5” and on the old plan that I got from Gil it was closer to 2.6”. You may notice that the rules for Seattle A-6 are listed on the plan and they differ from the current AMA A-6 event rules.
Per the original A-6 rules, there was no minimum weight requirement and some guys were getting their A-6 models down to 1.2 grams by using incredibly light balsa and condenser paper covering.
I did not compete in the A-6 event at that time because I thought condenser paper was not allowed per the original rules devised by Clarence Mather way back in the day, and I did not have the skills nor the light balsa and covering material to build a 1.2 gram A-6.
I still have my original Seattle A-6 (see attached photo), and it has not been flown in more than 25 years.
David Higgins has been a contributing author
for this Website since 2020.
Back to DAVE’S OVERHEAD BIN DRAWINGS LIST
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