Buteo (oz14519)

About this Plan

Buteo. Radio control sailplane model. Wingspan 2m (80 in), wing area 630 sq in. WIth optional electric power using Astro 05 motor.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: " Steve, I had the opportunity to build one of the prototype Buteos. I know of two other people that build the Buteo prototypes. Dan Pruss and Gordon Pearson.

The R&D on the Buteo for electric was never finished before Lee Renaud passing. At the time, I was given an Astroflight 05 'can' brushed motor to be used for the build. It was to be powered by 'four' C-size fast charger Nicad batteries for a total voltage of about 5~5.5 volts. I don't remember now what the Mah of the cells were, maybe 600~800Mah?

I do remember that I installed a tow hook and launched the Buteo up to height and then ran the motor and flew it around that way. It was fairly heavy and a fast flier. Like almost a pylon racer.

Dan Pruss's Buteo is the one with the red wings and the blue fuse [main pic] - not completed because he died of cancer. My Buteo without the main panel wings? My dad ran over them accidently with the car out at the field. Should not have left them in the grass behind the car. (happened in 1985).

Now with the lighter electronics I think it will be a great flier. The Buteo design took the wings from the Oly 650 to reduce production cost. It was to be a simple design for building and for electric flight and a somewhat smaller version of the Aquila.

The canopy was just a piece of plexiglass heated over a balsa mold with a heat gun to make the canopy. There is no frame that the canopy glues to.

Attached are photos of the remains of the Buteos I have, and the original Astro 05 motor that was in the electric Buteo."

Cleanup: Note this plan could use some (more) cleanup. I have tried to adjust the contrast, but it is difficult for me to get clarity across the whole drawing. Anyone who wants to have a go at this, please grab a copy of the supplement file 'greyscale scan' and then use that as a layer on top of this bitmap 2 color file, to compare the two versions, and see where I got to, so far. Most likely someone out there smarter than me can polish this up into a nice clean finished plan. Steve.

Update 15/6/2023: Added alternate (revised) plan, thanks to Harry Kirkland.

Quote: "Steve, Mary, Attached find plans for the Buteo oz14519. I cleaned this plan up electronically and then printed the plan and manually added the missing lines and darkened others, added the wing ribs etc and then rescanned it to produce a more usable plan. I also created a plan split over two pages with the addition of the second wing panel. I also added some 8-1/2 x 11 sheets that can be used to create templates. I thought you might want to add these to the existing plans. Hope to build it soon.
Thanks again for Outerzone."

Supplementary file notes

Alternate (revised) plan.
Greyscale scan.

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