QAC Quickie (oz8746)

About this Plan

QAC Quickie. Sport scale model for .40 engines.

Quote: "Ray Jenning's exciting sport scale .40 powered Quickie is a real eye grabber wherever it appears at a flying field.

Once in a while an aircraft comes along which just cries out to be modeled and for me such act aircraft was the Quickie. I chanced upon the design in Flight International Magazine during 1979 and couldn't resist the challenge it presented. One year and two models later I finally got what I wanted - a practical flying scale model of this remarkable aircraft.

I would say that this is one of the best flying models, of any type, that I have built and these qualities must be a tribute to the designer of the real thing, Mr Burt Rutan. Rutan was commissioned by Torn Jewett and Gene Sheehan to design a high performance, economical, single seat sport aircraft around an 18 hp Onan industrial four stroke engine. With his previous design background of the Vari-Viggan, Vari-Eze and Long- Eze, it was obvious his answer would draw little on conventional design practice and, sure enough, the Quickie (as his brainchild was christened) turned out to be a remarkable piece of original thinking both in appearance and structure.

How about the following specifications - maximum speed 127 mph, stall speed 49 mph, take-off distance 660 ft, 104 mpg at 120 mph and a load capacity of 280 lbs. Remember all this on an 18 hp engine. The structure is cut from blocks of extruded polystyrene foam and covered with fibreglass cloth and epoxy resin. This produces a very strong airframe with a smooth surface finish which cannot rust or warp.

Having proved this concept, Jewett and Sheehan set up a company to market kits for the airplane. Thus, Quickie Aircraft Corporation came about and to date some 500 kits have been sold and over 50 examples have been completed and flown by homebuilders throughout the world. Perhaps the best description of the Quickie was by Wayne Thorns, writing in Mechanix Illustrated, when he called it 'the ultimate adult toy.'

So much for the real thing; what about the model, Well, as I said, it took two goes to get my act together due mainly to a complete lack of any information on such an unconventional layout. Realizing this, my first attempt was built quickly and looked it. It's hard to put a great deal of time and effort into a model you are convinced won't fly. I made guesses at wing sections, incidence angles and balance point and, of course, I guessed wrong on everything.

The result of the first flight with this test model was thirty seconds of uncontrollable high speed aerobatics and a pile of pieces. Whilst repairing the mess I came across a drawing showing the CG of the full size aircraft and with the model balanced at this position reasonable flights were achieved.

After a few more changes and a lot more flying I was confident enough to start a new model and this is the one presented here. I incorporated the lessons learned from my first effort plus other changes based on additional information I had managed to gather on the real thing.

This time everything turned out exactly right and the flight performance was outstanding. It was fast and smooth, capable of basic aerobatics and had ultra safe low speed handling characteristics.

Quickie has exceeded all my expectations and l can certainly recommend it to those looking for something different.

Construction. Before beginning to build any scale model it is always a good idea to gather together as much information on the subject as possible. To help with this I have listed below some sources of documentation for the Quickie:

Flight International, week ending 4/14/79, photos and 3-view; Aeroplane Monthly, July 1978, photos; Model Aviation, May 1978. photos and 3-view; Mechanix Illustrated, January 1979, photos; Sport Aviation, October 1978, photos; Aeromodeller, March 1981, photos and 3-views.

The manufacturers, Quickie Aircraft Corporation, will supply an information package for $8.00. Write to them at PO Box 786, Mojave, California 92501.

I have tried to keep the construction as straightforward as possible and anyone with a little previous building experience should have no trouble. The original model took about six weeks of spare time work and I am not the world's fastest builder..."

QAC Quickie by Ray Jennings, plan #868, June 1982.

Update 25/05/2017: Added CAD file (dxf), thanks to SimonMathys.

Update 27/05/2017: Added alternate scan of this plan (along with article) as it appeared in March 1981 RCME, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article, thanks to WobblySticks.
CAD file (dxf).
Alternate plan scan.
Alternate plan scan article.

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