Ambush 15 (oz12269)

 

Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Ambush 15. Control line stunt trainer.

The original Bill Netzeband Ambush (oz11866) design was for .049 engines, and kitted by Testors. This here is a later enlarged version, for .15 engines.

Quote: "Aspiring CL stunt pilots can learn the basics quickly and inexpensively with this .15 powered all-sheet-balsa scale-up of a Bill Netzeband design. Ambush 15, by James Pacourek. Article by Allen W Brickhaus.

My interest in the Ambush 15 came in a talk with my friend Jim Pacourek. He, like many other beginners in CL stunt, was having a learning curve problem. Building a fully ribbed stunt trainer was time consuming, and a lack of good weather prompted few flying sessions. Crashes were more the norm than the exception. Pacourek's master guru, Jim Renkar, suggested putting together a small 1/2A design called the Ambush, a fully-sheeted stunter developed by Bill Netzeband for the Testor 8000 engine.

In Mr Netzeband's words: My first sketch and data sheet is dated 5/10/77. The concept was to create a 1/2A machine that was fully aerobatic, using the reed valve 1/2A engine power level. The structure was laid out to be bulletproof, and it was designed to bounce when accidentally landed in the grass. Since it was to be a rank beginner's project, I elected to hold material costs to a minimum. Thus, the parts all came out of two sheets of 1/8 x 3 x 36 balsa. The assembly was designed to be pinned flat on a work surface to align the critical surfaces. The controls were all commercially available, at the time.

The CG location has been verified by calculation and experiment. I had zeroed in on the ideal stability coefficients, and had the math to adjust the controls to handle the excessive pitching moment created by a flat plate wing at angles of attack. The weights were fairly easy to accomplish (no Concours finishes allowed). The layout also permitted a dedicated individual to mass pro-duce parts for a group of kids. Bill Tucker did this for 10 kids in his club, and they produced 100 percent flyable planes! The finished planes met every design criteria, and were able to do respectable squares on 35-foot cloth or wire lines. On 42-foot, .008-inch diameter cables, they flew up a storm.

Once the plane and plans were firmed up, Testor offered the plans at cost, to promote the 8000 engine. I believe we sent out more than 300 plans.

The JP/JR consortium decided to scale up the Ambush for an OS Max .15 FP-S. The final wingspan of 37 inches was determined. This gave them a multiplier of 154 percent for the rest of the model. Construction was still all sheet balsa. Two spars of 1/8-inch plywood were inserted to mini-mize dihedral flexing during maneuvers. With this span and the thin (1/4-inch) flat airfoil, some dihedral effect will be seen during attitude changes. This cannot be removed without severe weight penalties.

CONSTRUCTION: The Ambush's construction is of the utmost simplicity. Few words are needed to describe the actual procedure, although the upper and lower fuselage vertical pieces deem some attention. On a flat board, glue together the three wing sections and the two spars. Add the 1/4-inch balsa nose block stiffener to the leading edge. Once dry, turn the completed section upside down. Add the 3/16 x 1-5/8 x 4-1/8 balsa fuselage section and the stab part to the rear of the wing. Now glue the 3/16-inch balsa fuselage bottom to the lower side of the wing. When cured, the fuselage top can be glued to the upper portion of the wing. Add the 1/8 x 5/8 x 2 balsa fuselage stiffeners and you are ready to build the nose section.

Using an aliphatic resin type glue, glue the two 1/8-inch balsa nose pieces to the nose area. Add the nose top and bottom balsa pieces. Align and pin these parts together and allow to dry. Drill the firewal (F1) for your motor mount and install 4-40 blind mounting nuts to the backside, Glue F1 to the fuselage nose section with slow-drying epoxy. Wrap a piece of 1-inch wide fiberglass cloth and epoxy around the nose. Half of the cloth folds over the firewall and the rest covers the circumference of the balsa nose sides, top and bottom. The rest of the construction is simply looking at the plans and adding the bellaank/horn mounts, wingtip weight, landing gear blocks and hinging the elevator to the stab.

The photo that shows Jim's motor/tank setup depicts a wedge-type metal tank inset in the outboard fuselage nose section. No tank location is shown on the plans. The tank you use might be a metal or plastic unit and a different size than Jim used. Cut a place in the outboard nose section to accommodate your particular fuel tank. Line the opening with 1/16 balsa and fuelproof it before final painting. If you decide to side-mount the engine, be sure to have some vertical adjustment space in the tank compartment.

The leadout guide is similar to that on the original 1/2A Ambush. I must compliment Mr Netzeband for the cleverness of design of this simple item. The front piece of 3/32 wire is a pivot point for the leadout guide..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 15/07/2020: Added vectorPDF and CAD (dxf and dwg) versions of this plan, thanks to Valeria367.

Supplementary file notes

Article.
Vector plan tracing.

CAD file

This plan is available for download in CAD format.

Corrections?

Did we get something wrong with these details about this plan (especially the datafile)? That happens sometimes. You can help us fix it.
Add a correction

Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz12269)
    Ambush 15
    by James Pacourek
    from Model Builder (ref:5941)
    May 1994 
    37in span
    IC C/L Trainer
    clean :)
    all formers complete :)
    got article :)
  • Submitted: 01/06/2020
    Filesize: 537KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap • PDFvector • CADfile
    Credit*: MB2020, Valeria367
    Downloads: 743

Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - pic 003.jpg
003.jpg
Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - pic 004.jpg
004.jpg
Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - pic 005.jpg
005.jpg
Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - pic 006.jpg
006.jpg
Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - pic 007.jpg
007.jpg
Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - pic 008.jpg
008.jpg
Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - pic 009.jpg
009.jpg
Ambush 15 (oz12269) by James Pacourek 1994 - pic 010.jpg
010.jpg

Do you have a photo you'd like to submit for this page? Then email admin@outerzone.co.uk

User comments

Hi Mary/Steve, Here are some pics of the latest plane off the production line [main pic, 005-010]. Engine is a vintage PAW 249 DS recently acquired from ebay. Kind regards,
Robin Lewis - 09/12/2023
Add a comment

 

 
 

Download File(s):
  • Ambush 15 (oz12269)
  • Plan File Filesize: 537KB Filename: Ambush_15_oz12269.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 813KB Filename: Ambush_15_oz12269_article.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 280KB Filename: Ambush_15_oz12269_vector.pdf
  • CAD Zip Filesize: 87KB Filename: Ambush_15_oz12269_cad.zip
  • help with downloads
 

Notes

* Credit field

The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.

Scaling

This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.

 

Terms of Use

© Outerzone, 2011-2024.

All content is free to download for personal use.

For non-personal use and/or publication: plans, photos, excerpts, links etc may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Outerzone with appropriate and specific direction to the original content i.e. a direct hyperlink back to the Outerzone source page.

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site's owner is strictly prohibited. If we discover that content is being stolen, we will consider filing a formal DMCA notice.