Super Questor (oz5836)

 

Super Questor (oz5836) by Lee Renaud 1974 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Super Questor. RC sailplane model.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "Hi Steve - Here is Lee Renaud's Super Questor sailplane from Airtronics. My first sailplane, built with tapered tips and high start launched. I was rewarded with many 30 minute plus flights in the late 70's. No pictures of my original but I have included a box label picture. I recall covering it all white with transparent blue panels. Formers and sheet parts can be easily developed from the top and side views."

Update 12/03/2020: Added kit review from February 1975 RCM, thanks to RFJ.

Quote: "RCM Product Test: Super Questor.

The Super Questor is a general purpose sailplane designed by Lee Renaud and manufactured by Airtronics. This 500 sq in wing area sailplane features an 80 in wingspan with a constant chord wing to the polyhedral break and tapered end panels. The airfoil is a flat bottom Eppler 385. Included in the kit are pushrods, snap links, control horns, skid tape, tow hook, and tail skid. Unusual features of the kit include options for building the wing in several different configurations with four separate versions shown in the kit.

This is truly an outstanding kit that has been well engineered. The quality of wood and the fit of the parts are excellent. All necessary hardware is included with the kit and all that is required to complete the Super Questor is the radio and covering material.

The Super Questor flies well in light air as well as in light to moderate winds. The sailplane turns extremely well both into the wind and down wind with penetration exceptional for such a light aircraft.

RCM's prototype of the Super Questor was completely covered with Super MonoKote and had an all up weight of 22 ounces."

Update 23/3/2022: Added kit instructions, thanks to Matt Switzer.

Quote: "INTRODUCTION: The Super Questor is a high performance RC Sailplane featuring easy assembly and convenient size. The design and construction were developed for the novice to ensure simplicity in building and easy flight characteristics. The ship is quite stable and is recommended for those with no previous experience with R/C models. The fuselage and tail group are the same used on the Questor (oz12226), thus you can try both wings by purchasing a Questor Wing Kit.

Any of four different wing configurations can be built from the kit with material and instructions included for all versions. The simplest wing is the constant chord polyhedral and we suggest this if you are a beginner. The tapered tips are more appealing to the eye and require only a few minutes of additional work. Vee dihedral is more scale-like but the turn response is not as good as with the polydihedral wings. It you like to experiment we suggest you try different versions or dihedral angles to see how these changes affect flight characteristics.

The Super Questor can be flown on the slope or in thermal conditions. If your interest is only in slope flying we suggest the Standard Questor Kit as it is more acrobatic. For thermal flying you can hand tow or use an Airtronics Standard Launch Pail. An optional .049 Power Pod is also available if you prefer this type of launch.

Like other Airtronics kits, all hardware items required to complete the model are included in the kit. You need to buy only the adhesives and covering materials plus the radio equipment to complete your Super Questor,

CONSTRUCTION: No special tools or jigs are required to build the Super Questor. A smooth flat surface into which you can push pins is required to assemble the model. Plan your work sequence so that the wing and stabilizer panels remain pinned to the work surface at least 8 hours before rernoveal. This will minimize the possibility of warps and make flight trimming much easier.

We suggest that the strongest and tightest airframe will be achieved using an aliphatic resin glue and: or quick setting epoxy. We do not recommend the use of model airplane cements as they are not as strong and become brittle in time. There are many suitable products available today and if you have a personal preference use what you find works well. We use the following adhesives for our own models where indicated.

Flying surfaces and side to bottom joint: Titebond, Wilhold, or Hobbypoxy Formula I. General fuselage assembly and wing center joint: Hobbypoxy Formula I, or Quick-Fix Formula 4, or Devcon 5-Minute Epoxy.

We suggest trial fitting all pads before applying glue to assure tight accurate joints. Correct any problems before gluing. Remove any excess adhesive from all outside surfaces before it dries to make final sanding easier. A cloth or paper towel moistened with water will clean up the aliphatic glue; A little alcohol or acetone works well to remove excess epoxy. We have found that a glue gun. such as Austin-Craft or similar. helps to build a neat structure; or use a small paint brush or toothpicks to apply the glue.

WING ASSEMBLY First decide which configuration you prefer since the construction is slightly different for the Vee or Polydihedral wings. Details for all versions are included on the plans and in the following instructions.

PRE-ASSEMBLY PREPARATION: Polyhedral: Pin the two center ribs together and drill hole for brass tubes, locating hole as shown on the plan. Use one of the tubes sharpened on one end as a drill. We fincl that a No. 11 X-Acto blade rotated inside the tube works best to sharpen the tube. Plug ends of both tubes with scrap balsa to keep epoxy out of tube in later assembly..."

Supplementary file notes

Instructions.
Review.

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

Super Questor (oz5836) by Lee Renaud 1974 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz5836)
    Super Questor
    by Lee Renaud
    from Airtronics
    1974 
    80in span
    Glider R/C Kit
    clean :)
    formers unchecked
  • Submitted: 02/09/2014
    Filesize: 1082KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap
    Credit*: theshadow
    Downloads: 3860

Super Questor (oz5836) by Lee Renaud 1974 - pic 003.jpg
003.jpg

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

User comments

Greets again, Steve! I built this glider in Germany shortly after its appearance covered with chrome MONOKOTE with red trim, also with tapered tip panels (looks a LOT neater). Flew it thru three different radios, mostly off a high-start, and a couple of times off the Wasserkuppe slope. I finally sold it sometime around 1992 - needed room for more gliders. Never crashed, tho on one flight the battery died and it landed itself. I can't remember ANY flight of less than 30 minutes.
Pete Brecker - 04/09/2021
In the 70s, a friend of mine built one on these. He had some money problems and he sold it to me, complete with radio, ready to fly, for like $70! Perfect shape. I’ve flown the wings off it over the years, literally, the wing popped off once when I was trying to roll it! That incident busted it up pretty good but it was all fixed and I still fly it.
I was surprised to read about the 2 piece wing though! Mine wing is one piece. Wish it was two pieces for transport. I recently installed a modern radio and was amazed to find that the 1970s servos still work fine!
Slope445 - 02/01/2023
Add a comment

 

 
 

Download File(s):
  • Super Questor (oz5836)
  • Plan File Filesize: 1082KB Filename: Super_Questor_Airtronics_80in_oz5836.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 1492KB Filename: Super_Questor_Airtronics_80in_oz5836_instructions.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 751KB Filename: Super_Questor_Airtronics_80in_oz5836_review.pdf
  • 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.