Schweizer 1-30 (oz4908)

About this Plan

Schweizer 1-30. Radio control scale model. For .19 to .25 engines. Scale is 1/6.

Quote: "Cute, simple, strong, gentle, easily maintained and flown, inexpensive to build and - most important - surprisingly realistic. Silhouette Scale at its best! Schweizer 1-30, by Doc Mathews.

In 1958 the world-renowned Schweizer Bros firm of Elmira, New York, added a powerplant and undercarriage to a 1-26 glider to develop the powered glider called the 1-30. Such is the myth attached to the prototype of our model. Remarkably, it is not true.

According to the firm's brochures, and an article in Air Progress in October 1964, the 1-30 was a vastly beefed-up 1-26 in-tended as a study in the single place lightplane market! Quoting Air Progress: The aircraft was not a powered glider, but an honest-to-goodness lightplane. The factory brochure describes the 1-30 as a glider tug, and for most of its life that is the use to which it was put.

Although its outlines closely resemble those of its sister, the aircraft used much heavier and beefed-up components along with greatly altered aerodynamics. Oddly, however, the wing spoilers of the 1-26 were carried over into the 1-30, making it the first lightplane ever so equipped.

Of mixed sheet aluminum, tubing and fabric construction, the 1-30 was initially equipped with a Continental 65 hp engine; this resulted in a 700 lb empty weight, as opposed to the 1-26's mere 348 lb. Capable of breaking ground after only 150-200 feet of roll, the 1-30 could clear a 50 ft obstacle in less than 500 feet. Climb rate was a spectacular 1,000 feet per minute, and cruise speed approached 100 mph.

Six bolts could be removed from the aircraft to allow it to be dismantled for trailering and storage, an excellent feature for the 'Sunday sport flier' that is commonly seen on contemporary home-builts.

A later development of this engineering concept was the 2-31, which was essen-tially a widened 1-30 for two passengers side by side. Although it was directed at competing with the Piper Colt and Cessna 150 of the day, no production was ever commenced on the aircraft.

Our Model. Development of our model came about as the result of a phone conversation with our favorite 'scale nut,' Bill Knepp. Some of you may remember Bill and his wife as scale judges at many Nationals. He has already forgotten more about aircraft and their history than you and I will ever know!

Bill had seen photos of our Monoprep (oz9305) and Rearwin Jr projects, and asked what we would be doing next in Silhouette Scale. We mentioned our interest in developing a low-wing project we had in mind. Bill quickly said, 'If you're looking for a low-wing prototype, you ought to do a Schweizer 1-30 in 2 inch scale.'

We had long been attracted to Sig's 1 inch kit but had always dismissed the 1-30 as a subject for publication because of its complex canopy. We have a strong feeling that it is unfair to presume that a scratch-builder has the capability of vacuum-forming such large canopies. We don't!

Bill's comment set us to wondering about adapting Sig's Zlin canopy to the 1-30, and some preliminary measurements from the Zlin plans led us to order one and design our model around it. As you can see from the photos, the easily obtainable canopy looks very nice on the model.

So here is the result: cute, simple, strong, gentle, easily maintained and flown, inexpensive to build and, most important, surprisingly realistic. True to the master plan of the Silhouette Scale concept, this model is not exact scale. The wing is 2 in short in order to avoid using wood in excess of 36 in lengths, the nose has been lengthened slightly, the stabilizer is enlarged, and the cowl shape is not exactly correct. In flight, or to the casual observer, no great differences are discernible - and isn't that what really matters?

Construction. We used aliphatic resin (Sig, Titebond, Gluit, etc.) as the main adhesive throughout the construction of the model, with the exception of..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 16/06/2017: added article, thanks to RFJ.

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