Lockheed Orion

24 ” wingspan
Class: Scale flyer 1:21
Skill Level: Experienced / Experienced

The Lockheed Orion is a laser cut balsa wood kit for the serious flying competitor. Designed by Tom Nallen, the kit qualifies for Flying Aces Club Scale contests, and dependent on the color scheme chosen, it qualifies for Bendix Races.

The first Orion entered service with Bowen Air Lines in May 1931; it was faster than any military aircraft of that time. Designed by Richard A. Von Hake, it was the last wooden monoplane design produced by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was the first airliner to have retractable landing gear. The Orion used all the elements of the Lockheed Altair but included a forward top cockpit and NACA cowling. It featured an enclosed cabin with seating for six passengers.

Only one Orion survives today. Originally built as an experimental Altair with a metal fuselage in 1931, it was converted in 1934 to an Orion 9C after being damaged in a belly-landing accident. It was sold to Shell Aviation Corporation, painted in their colors and named “Shellightning”. It was used by Shell’s aviation manager, Jimmy Doolittle, on cross country and exhibition flights. Today the plane is located in the Swiss Transport Museum and wears red with white trim.

This free flight rubber powered kit includes a full-size rolled CAD drawn plan, laser cut balsa parts and hand-picked balsa strip wood, vacuum-molded canopy, exhaust and air scoop, FAI rubber, E-B propeller, EBM thrust bearing, laser cut bond paper for the passenger windows, Easy Built Lite tissue in red and white, and LaserCal™ and TissueCal™ markings for the red and white color scheme. To build this model you will need a building board, hobby knife, fine sandpaper, and glue.

 

CUSTOMER BUILDS & INFO:

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“The prototype wearing Shellightning tissue covering. “My model weighed in at 38.8 grams with a glob of clay on the nose, trimmed for flight and modified to use a removable wing.” – Dave Niedzielski

“I got the Orion in the air this past Saturday. SUPER! Flies like it was on rails. All up weight came out to 35.5 grams dry, using all kit wood and Easy Built tissue. With 13 grams of 3/16″ rubber, two loops, and a 9″ prop, it finishes right at .5grams/square inch and will max in decent air on 1100 winds. I have to say, working with the Easy Built tissue was a pleasure. … With great regret I must report that the Orion went OOS on Saturday. A routine, 1/2 winds trim flight that just kept on keeping on…. I started in on kit #2 this evening! … And though it pains me to bow to it, I am going to fit this one with a DT.” – Dave Mitchell

“Here are some finished model photos of my Altair. Its a fairly simple conversion, and a good flyer typically turning a minute and a half in dead air which is good enough to be competitive, at least make the last round and hope for a little air help. It uses 6 strands of 1/8th. Most model Altairs use the 1931 Army paint scheme of Ira Eaker’s. I scoped the web looking for something different. My model is the one flown by Jim Goodwin Hall, who was the spokesman for the Crusaders organization, an anti-prohibition group. Note the Crusaders shield that he carried on the side of his aircraft. There were only 3 Altairs ever flown in the Bendix, several more Orions, if I remember 7.” – John Donelson

Click here for drawings of Altair modification.

“Finally after a few years I was able to finish the Lockheed Orion I got from you. I built it with an undercarriage. It is powered by a Gasparin GM 120 Co2 Engine. The nose is detachable for filling, as well is the undercarriage. The construction for the under carriage is made from carbon. I made a mold in foam filled it with carbon and then “edged” the foam away. The wheels are also from foam, CNC milled as 2 half parts and then glued together with a 0.4mm plywood disc in the middle. So the whole construction is light weight. Logo is airbrushed. The model weights 63.6 grams. How and if it will fly…, I have to see at the International IFI, an indoor contest in about 2 weeks here in Nijmegen , the Netherlands.” – Gerard Brinks

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