Skandanavisk KZ.III
by Gene Smith
History: The design was begun in 1943 Denmark under Nazi occupation. Development was allowed to proceed because the KZ.III was intended for use by the Danish Air Ambulance Service.
The aircraft’s maiden flight was in 1944. Production continued until 1947. Of the 64 aircraft built, three were delivered to the Ambulance Service.
The aircraft had excellent STOL performance. The civilian version modeled was equipped with 100 hp Cirrus Minor engine.
The Model: The original model was built roughly 12 years ago and has been campaigned indoors. I built the flying ambulance version last year using the traced drawing.
There is just no way around it, lighter models fly better. You can use 1/16 square balsa to frame the fuselage, but 1/20 will be lighter and is what I recommend.
When framing the rear of the fuselage, use a temporary spacer at the back of the stabilizer slot. The fuselage tapers to a point at the rear and the slot will tend to close without the spacer. Remove the spacer when you install the stabilizer. Be sure to allow a little “wiggle room” for the front of the stab in case you need to shim it up or down for flight trimming.
The plan was traced from my original drawing. The front of the stab had to be lowered 1/16 inch on the original model. On the second model I built the front of the stab slot 1/16 inch lower than shown on the plan and the model flew well from the first test flights.
There is one other change you should note. The dihedral breaks are at the ribs over the cabin frame, not in the center of the wing.
