🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1iq1gj$4qu@agate.berkeley.edu>, hartzell@cs.Berkeley.EDU (George Hartzell) writes:
> 
> I'm currently building my first plane, a 2 meter sailplane.  I started
> with a Gnome that I bought from Northeast Sailplanes, but got
> frustrated (8 pages of instructions, no diagrams or pictures, not the
> best first timers plane) and bought a Great Planes Spirit.  I'm much
> happier, it has an _excellent_ instruction manual and the parts are
> easy to work with.  They have a larger version, the Spirit 100, which
> got rave reviews in one of the magazines recently.  It's a lot more
> expensive though ($80 vs. $35) and seemed excessive for something I'm
> likely to turn into matchsticks.  Maybe my next one though.

The Spirit's are nice planes to build (and fly), but the wing joiner
is a weak point. I think the latest kits now have an aluminium
lamination in the wing joiner assembly rather than all plywood - this
really is an essential modification. If you intend to winch launch
the Spirit a stronger wing joiner-box assembly is also a good idea,
but not necessary as long as you take care and are gentle on the
launch. As for the Spirit 100 - apparently the wing is weak just
outside the wing joiner-box and benefits from some extra ply webbing.

> Another plane to consider is the Airtronics Olympic 650 (though it's
> also a 2 meter plane).  It got some good reviews, and is the example
> plane in the book "Sailplane and Soaring Manual" by Al Doig, from R/C
> Modeler Magazine.  The book has great pictures and instructions (about
> building, testing, and flying [theory and practice]), if you ordered
> the plans from RCM you could easily scratch build one from the book.
> That plus the kit instructions (which are also supposed to be good)
> should make an excellent first plane.
> 
> One nice thing about the Gnome and the Spirit are that they have a
> spoiler option, which many people suggest is worth having (it seems
> reasonable to me...).  I don't know if the Oly does or not.

I agree that the spoiler option is worth having - it makes spot
landings much easier. I also slope soar mine in light to medium
winds and the spoilers make it much easier to get down in tight
landing areas. However for a beginner it's another control to
worry about (and spoilers are useful rather than necessary).

> Of course, I don't know anything about flying these things yet, so
> both of these planes might be totally inappropriate (especially if
> you're set on a bigger plane).  I decided that I'd be happier
> successfully building something, even it if wasn't the hottest plane
> in the air.  That'll come later...  People seem to thing that the
> Spirit is a fine plane though.

The Spirit is a beautiful plane to fly - it's stable and easy to
handle, but also very manouverable. I've slope-raced mine with
about 1/2 Kg (over 1 pound) of lead ballast - I was almost as
fast as the aileron models in a straight line and quicker round
the turns.

There are several modified Spirits flying in our club. One guy
learnt on one and gave it a **very** hard time - it's still flys
very nicely although it's a lot heavier than it started out...
mods include fully sheeted leading edges (top & bottom) out to
the tip with wire on the very front (survives mid-airs very
well!) and glass reinforcing in the fuse (the fuse is probably
nearly all cyano and glass now...).

Another guy has one with severe strengthening in the wings - he
zoom launches it off winches (F3B style) and has done a 40sec
F3B speed run with it... not competitive but pretty quick for
a floater!

>   > I  also need recommendations on books about sailplanes (building
>   >and flying) and radios. (As my kids will eventually push me into
>   >power I thought I'd go with a good 4ch setup.)

Even if you stick with gliders you may end up using 4 (or more)
channels - rudder, elevator, ailerons and flaps. With a model
like this it's useful to be able to mix aileron to rudder
channels, and also flap to elevator - something to consider
when looking for a radio.

Chris Kaiser

Postgrad, Elec. Eng. Dept.
University of Canterbury
Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND