Matador (oz9013)
About this Plan
Mercury Matador. Radio control cabin model, also suitable for free flight.
Quote: "The Matador has been designed primarily as a free-flight cabin model which is ideally suited for Radio Control. This does not mean that it is not equally suited for normal free-flight. It is in fact of such a rugged and simple construction that it can be tackled by beginners to power modelling with every confidence.
For radio work a diesel of 1.5 cc capacity is recommended and for free-flight 1 to 1.5 cc. Larger motors are not recommended unless you are a very experienced modeller and can handle a model with a degree of surplus power without difficulty.
The original model complete, doped and ready to fly weighed only 15 oz but a fair average weight when built by a beginner to power work would be better taken as 18 oz. With radio the model need weigh no more than 30 ounces even when using batteries of high capacity. The ample total area of 440 sq in gives a loading of 10 oz/sq ft. This is high enough to give good penetration on windy days but not so high as to make the flying speed too fast for easy handling.
Any good commercial single channel radio is recommended and the plan gives details of the normal rudder control arrangement which is now accepted as standard practice for one-channel working. Full details of the wiring up of your radio equipment will be given with the set and should be carefully followed. Batteries are best mounted direct in the bottom of the fuselage in a balsawood battery box. Access to the radio receiver and batteries are obtained by lifting the wing off the top of the fuselage. If you are not going to fit radio, then the top of the fuselage can be sheeted in under the wing for extra strength.
Most of the necessary building instructions are on the plan and the following are hints to help you tackle the job in a straightforward manner..."
Quote: "Hi Mary & Steve. Another Mercury Masterpiece! The Matador. I was surprised not to find it on the site. You should find here the 2 plan sheets; sheet 1 has a piece of sheet 2 pasted to it. Also you should find 2 pics of the box and 2 'family photos' taken in 1985 [more pics 003-005]. I built this kit in c1970 and flew it FF for many years, the best flying ground was Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. I then brought it with me to France and some time after 1985 a cat decided to take up winter quarters in the Matador box in our boiler room! Crushed it to smithereens. All that is left today is a wing rib I saved (scan h'with). So, no printwood and only a little matchwood. The Matador was my favourite flyer. Best wishes, Nicholas"
Direct submission to Outerzone.
Note: If anyone out there could submit scans of the printwood parts, that would be great [edit: got these now. Done].
Update 17/01/2019: Added full printwood scan, 5 pages, thanks to NicholasTucker.
Update 31/3/2022: Added alternate plan, thanks to tyro185. This includes a sheet with CAD-drawn ribs and formers.
Supplementary file notes
Alternate plan.
Instructions.
Rib pattern.
Printwood (full).
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User comments
Sturdy? This was my first plane, printed wing ribs and all. Glide was fine .. (we did that in those days .. ) Sadly, the southerly wind blowing across the marsh was quite lively, but as a determined 14 year old , I was keen that my masterpiece should fly. And fly it did, the AM 15 howling, .. one gigantic loop, way above the tops of the pylons and very nearly starting another .. but terra firma intervened .. not by much, but enough .. I still have the diesel, thirty bob from the secondhand shop from a big save with my pocket money.anon - 02/08/2017
Added two photos from Electric Flight International, December 2001 [more pics 006,007] thanks to RFJ.
SteveWMD - 23/02/2020
Awww. One of the first 'serious' models I ever built back around 1960. Thanks to whomever it was that made these plans available - especially for free. Who knows, I might even make one (again) to remember what it was like all those years ago. Thanks again.
Mark in Chesham
Mark Crow-Stewart - 16/02/2021
Hi, You may like to add this picture [pic 008] to your webpage. This is a Mercury Matador that my twin brother and I made in 1965. It was actually the second one we'd made, called the ‘Matador2’ because although it copied the original Mercury design/shape exactly it was of a much sturdier, heavier construction all of our own. It was powered by an M.E. Snipe 1.49 cc engine and used a single-channel RC system, controlling the rudder and engine speed (with ‘quick blip’). It was extremely successful, making 98 flights in all - we kept a logbook - over a period of 18 months. My brother calculated that it did a total flying time of 499 minutes. Best regards,
Gordon Stainforth - 15/05/2023
Hello, Here are a few photos of my recently completed Mercury Matador from modified Outerzone plans [main pic, 010-013]. EFlite 480 power and tissue over doculam finish.
Kamal Butt - 25/10/2023
This was the first plane I can remember from childhood. I remember helping my father build her,(( help I mean I was allowed to put one Rib in the wing. ) I was only 9 or 10 years old. ) The first radio control flight, up by the Howe barracks training ground in Canterbury Kent. I am so interested in building this model again but will convert it to electric. Much cleaner now.
Raymond Lee - 18/03/2024
Matador was my first free flight plane and I was hooked ! Covered entirely in heavy weight silk span with an AM 10 , 8 x 4 prop , I cannot recall any trimming requirements . It was lost on its 169th flight in a 300 acre swamp . Built a second one with mods like a STOL MK 1 for Cannon radio with ME Snipe power . Flew it mostly on rudder only . Quickly came to dislike radio as it seemed to come between me and the model spoiling my joy at watching the model in flight . Converted it to free flight and flew with an ME Heron engine . Built a third one at 80 per cent size on a bet using just two sheets of balsa . Powered it with a FROG 80 MK 3 . It was the best free flight plane I ever had ! Flew it for years . Built a fourth one to plan , but side on outside the lines and top view inside the lines (I have a small hand). Covered in red polyester dress lining material and with DC Spitfire engine it flew 250 flights the first three years in a row . First flight was in October 1982 . The Spitfire broke at the crank disc on the 1169th flight and after that by FROG 100 MK 2 and 3 engines . Still flyable now , 2024 , with a PAW 1.49 , I gave up counting flights at 1659 ! It has had several hundred further flights ! A model shop owner friend of mine once said free flight models don't last ! I had to rebuild the wing once as all the spars were broken , but the polyester covering retained the airfoil shape ! I recently downloaded wing parts from Outerzone and hope to build one more to original plan form . I have a 268 acre organic farm to fly on , and owner sometimes stops working to watch Matador fly!
Allen Wale - 15/07/2024
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- Matador (oz9013)
- Plan File Filesize: 969KB Filename: Matador_Mercury_oz9013.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 268KB Filename: Matador_Mercury_oz9013_alternate.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 146KB Filename: Matador_Mercury_oz9013_instructions.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 881KB Filename: Matador_Mercury_oz9013_printwood_full.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 72KB Filename: Matador_Mercury_oz9013_rib_pattern.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.
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