Zue (oz6208)

About this Plan

Zue. Radio control model.

Quote: "Although Zue was designed as a contest model, she's a sport flier as well. Basically Zue is an expendable type, not too elaborate or expensive. Maneuverable and light, yet she is rugged enough to withstand rough landings and high speed. In the early years of R/C it was a rule that too much power was poison. This rule is still valid today, with the exception that high power can be used if it is controllable. Zue would fly nicely with a .19 engine, and with a K&B .35 R/C is definitely over-powered, but a reliable throttle control makes it a fairly mild airplane.

There are many methods available for engine speed control; we chose a pulse omission detector to operate a three position servo for the throttle. Under noisy contest conditions it is easy to reach the definite throttle positions of a 3P servo, but some fliers might prefer trimmable control for its fail-safe feature.

A single-geared Mighty Midget pulses the rudder on Zue with no difficulty, even though speeds are quite high in a dive. For stunts it is important to 'make full use of the MM with leverage that will result in a maximum armature rotation for the desired rudder movement 30° each side of center. This means no stops on the motor, and only the light-est of rubber band centering. A stiff torque rod is a necessity since any twist here would permit the rudder to blow back in the slipstream with loss of con-trol.

A tricycle gear can be a headache on a rudder-only airplane, since they seem to land nose down most of the time. Zue's first nose gear was 1/8 dia wire and had a short life. The plans show 5/32 dia wire which has 1-1/2 times the cross section area. In spite of shortcomings the trike gear was used because of its excellent ground handling. Straight line takeoffs are really a snap, and you can shoot touch and go landings all day. A friction type nose wheel 'drag' brake was used to get those all-important points for semi-proto takeoffs..."

Quote: "Steve, Here is a plan for the ZUE designed by Bill Wischer. I got this plan from John Pond about 20 years ago. My first digital proportional airplane was a Goldberg Falcon 56 with a RCM digitrio back in '67. I read back in the '80s that Bill's wife Margaret (Dolly) designed the Super Zue for a proportional radio that she also designed. Goldberg modified the Super Zue for the Falcon 56. Thanks again."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 10/05/2017: Added article, thanks to RFJ.

Update 6/4/2024: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy, scanned at 400 dpi from fullsize, thanks to dfritzke.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

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