Zlin Z-526AS Akrobat Special (82″) – Plan & Article

The plan offers conventional build methods and many refinements to make it a powerful and rewarding performer in the air. The plan includes scale details for a retracting undercarriage system.

The Full Size: Although this particular type of Zlín is quite well-known by modellers, only five full-size machines of the Z-526 AS-type have ever been produced. In 1967, the Czech government ordered a batch of four aircraft for the Czech team to compete in the 1968 World Championships at Magdeburg, East Germany. These aircraft were basically Z-526 AS (A stands for Akrobat, the factory designation for single-seater), which had a strengthened front fuselage and an elegant, sliding canopy, adopted from the previous Z-326 model. The flaps were omitted to save some weight. These aircraft, with serial numbers 1026 – 1029, were coded OK-WXA through WXD. The colour scheme layout was basically the same for all machines, only the basic colour was different, WXA was neutral grey, WXB cream, WCD light blue-green and WXD light green-blue. The colours of WXC and WXD are so similar that it’s almost impossible to distinguish them from each other when not having both aircraft at hand. Later, a fifth machine was ordered. This machine had serial number 1030 and was coded OK-WXE. It was painted in a tangerine colour (not yellow, as some manufacturers claim!) and its paint scheme differed in some minor details from the other machines. After the WC all machines were converted, WXA was to become a Z-526 F, all others had their wings clipped, their nose shortened and became Z-526 AFS. They were sold to former East Germany. Today, not a single genuine Z-526 AS is flying, although at the national aerobatic school in Moravska Trebova in the Czech Republic, the airframe of OK-WXA is still in use. Modified with a Z-326 wing and a new engine it is now designated Z-526 ASM. A similar configuration was undertaken with OK-WXB, which now flies as HBTRQ in Switzerland.