flysforfun

I saw a guy at our field a while back flying a discus launch glider. He used a glove to toss the plane, using a dowel grip at the end of one wing. He just chucked the thing like a discus, and it climber to over a hundred feet. Looked like a lot of fun.

Does anyone know who sells these? I know Tower has one, called the Fling I think, but was looking to get a non-balsa version.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

There are lots of DLG around.

What is your budget?
Are you looking for an ARF or a kit?

www.mountainmodels has a nice easy kit for $70 called the DL50. Simple R/E controls. Reports are that it flies well. They also have one called the Boomer, which is a DLG wing.

The Fling, as far as I know, is a hand launch, not a discus launed glider.

Take a look at the DL50. Good video there.

Bytor

Aeajr,

DLG flying is alot of fun... No launch equipment to drag out to the field and setup. Just your plane and transmitter.
I am flying a Art Hobby Hyper DL and love it.

Check it and others out at:

www.arthobby.com

Thermals

Mark

e-sailpilot86

Oh yes! DLG's are a whole lot of fun! I've got an Osiris from Icare-RC. Mind you, these things can get pretty expensive, so get ready to fork up some $$$ ($750 after all costs). The DL-50 is excellent, and cheaper than most. You may need to fiberglass it on your own (unsure), but I'm sure that it's worth doing on your own, if you have to. There's an EPP DLG out there, not the greatest, but it's a good flyer. Don't forget the Sidearm launch models, they're really good too, even though they're small. The light, fat chorded ones seem to stay up real well with the bigger ones. It's very useful to have someone train you to do it, I've got no problem with that though, I fly at 60 acres, the actual birthplace of DLG flying. [8D] BTW, if you want some more help, take a look at http://www.liftzone.com and you'll get all kinds of information. It's fairly easy to go wrong with a DLG, so ask first, then buy! The best DLG's come from the USA.

BTW, to find the Boomer at mountain models, you have to follow this process. Click all products on the top bar, airplanes on the quick links on left, scroll down to the boomer.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

I purchased the Boomer EX2 DLG/SLG wing glider. Easy to build kit, easy
transport, high fun factor.

My second choice was the DL50, also from Mountain Models.

Many of the models I list below have videos of them being launched and flown.
Most are kits, some are ARF, and one is an RTF. Typically the ones over $200
are ARF composite construction planes. More competition oriented. I was
looking for more of a fun/sport plane that I could keep in the car for instant
fun!


FLYING WING ELEVON STYLE DLGs
Some have video links on their pages
Seem to have a very high fun factor to them

Boomer EX2 - DLG flying wing - This is the one I brought to the meeting.
Reported to thermal very well, easy transport in car, good for light slope
lift Product has been taken over by Mountain Models
www.mountainmodels.com
http://www.mountainmodels.com/order_planes.php
This is a product review - be sure to watch the video
at the end of the review
http://www.rcgroups.com/links/index.php?id=4524
Second Video
http://www.stocker.rchomepage.com/Boomhivis2_0002.wmv


Red Herring - DLG Flying wing - $60
Very light wing loading
available as EPP for added slope capability
or lighter EPS with protective nose cap at 2 oz wing loading
http://www.liftworx.com/pages/redherring.html
Video
http://www.liftworx.com/videoclips/redherring.html

Alula - DLG Flying Wing $45
interesting forward swept wing design
EPP foam with removable tail.
http://www.dream-flight.com/alula.html
Review - Starts on Page 24
http://www.b2streamlines.com/RCSD-2004-10.pdf


RUDDER/ELEVATOR STYLE DLGs
- Some have video links on their pages
- One is a RTF plane

Mountain Models DL50 - $70-kit
This will probably be my next one
http://www.mountainmodels.com/DL50.php
Review
http://www.rcgroups.com/links/index.php?id=4542


The Gambler+ = $70 - Kit
http://www.wrightbrothersrc.com/our_kits/gambler.htm
http://www.rcgroups.com/4506

The Seeker - $79 kit - smaller than the ones above
This one breaks down for easy transport
http://www.liftworx.com/pages/seeker.html

NSP Calysto $139 - ARF
http://www.nesail.com./detail.php?productID=2955

The Spinner - An EPP DLG - heavier than the others in the group
http://www.upslopesailplanes.com/Spinner.html

avenger - $275
http://www.jancomodels.com/avenger.html

MiSAL - RTF
This comes all built including all electronics on your channel of
choice. You add the radio and go! They also sell radios to go with it if you
like
http://www.edgerc.com/MiSAL%20DLG.htm


AILERON/ELEVATOR/RUDDER STYLE DLGs

NSP Huron - ARF $128
http://www.nesail.com./detail.php?productID=760

NSP Apache - ARF $139
http://www.nesail.com./detail.php?productID=1178

HobbyClub Salsa (aka Salmoe) $179
http://www.hobbyclub.com/salsahlg.htm
Review
http://www.hobbyclub.com/rcmsalsa_dhlg.htm

Hyper DLG - - ARF $250
Two piece wing and removable H-stab for easy
transport. R/E/A
http://www.nesail.com/detail.php?productID=3059

Art Hobby Bobolink $91 Kit
http://www.arthobby.com/gliders/specs/bobolink.html

ArtHobby Hyper DL $131 Kit
http://www.arthobby.com/gliders/specs/hyperDL.html

The Spinner XT - An EPP DLG - R/E/A
Primarily if I wanted a slope plane that was also a DLG
Wing loading is a bit high.
http://www.upslopesailplanes.com/Spinner.html

flysforfun

Wow- Thanks for all the great info- definatley a BIG help. Yes- I'm just looking for fun, less than $300 type plane that I can keep in the truck and fly anytime. Will check out the links here and give an update when I can.

Mark

e-sailpilot86

BTW... Go to www.steelheadproducts.com and find Dean's e-mail. Ask him if you can get a kit for his MHLG/SAL plane. He's got one on the main page right now, but he's also got a prototype called the Fry. It's excellent. Tiny little plane, and easily, under $120 ready to fly. Not as durable as others, but it's up to par with the tiny flying wing planes. Now, the tiny SAL planes may be small, but I'm serious. I'm constantly outflown by guys with them, and I'm using a 63" DLG. They get to fly more often, so... I recomend that, or one of the tiny little wings that you SAL into the air. They get pretty high too, especially if you've got a gorrilla build.

e-sailpilot86

OH! Also, I strongly suggest you use the FMA direct Low-voltage reciever system on these tiny planes! They use one li-poly cell to power the whole thing. Very light, dual-conversion so they're full range (you'll need it), and since it's a lipoly, you can use more capacity to get the same weight, and it's far less power on so little voltage, meaning you'll fly for plenty long on one charge. Mind you, I've flown for more than an hour on a 250mah pack with mini-servos. I can't imagine how long you'd fly with a 250 lipo or 700 lipo on two sub-micro servos.

e-sailpilot86

EX2, seeker (very very nice), and red herring are great too...

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

Great Planes Fling DL. Available soon.

http://www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma1070.html

e-sailpilot86

Eh... well... Wait on the Fling till someone is the guinea pig before you. I've got a feeling the Fling is to take advantage of our wallet, and hasn't been perfected to do any better in the air. Will it fly? Yes. Well? We'll have to wait on that.

Ernie Misner

e-sailpilot86, ahhh, so you fly at 60 acres. I am from Tacoma and used to go there a couple of years ago. Do you know Phil Pearson from Issaqua and does he still fly there? I would like to say hi to him.

Write to me at [email protected]

Thanks loads!

Ernie Misner

Ernie Misner

On the DL50 for example, where the vertical fin and rudder hang way down low, does this tend to break easily on landings?

How much does this rudder arrangement really help? I assume it is to keep the rudder out of the wake of disturbed air from the wing.

Thanks!

Ernie

e-sailpilot86

Phil Pearson... doesn't ring a bell. Sorry! I guarantee you I've seen him though, I just might not know it.

DougBinder

The reason for the rudder extending below the boom on a DLG is to withstand the loads it receives during a launch. The plane will leave your hand in a hurry and the side forces are huge. You want to balance those loads. It also helps to reduce the tendency for the plane to bank on launch because of the torque that would have been applied to the rudder.

As with most DLGs, the lower part of the DL50 rudder is reinforced to withstand the abuses of a botched landing.

Doug
Mountain Models

davidj

I spent a lot of time researching the DLG market and chose the Long Shot from Hobby Club. It fly's great and is easy to build and comes in at between 10 and 11 oz. I am able to get 120' launches and it seams quite durable. Look in my gallery for a pic of the Long Shot

Ernie Misner

Thanks Doug and David! I appreciate the input,

Ernie

jooNorway

The problems on cheap DLG`s are often too much weight in the tail, or flexing booms. During the toss the forces at the tail is huge and every gram counts to avoid breaking the fuselage.
And if your launch-technique is poor you often throw the model sideways increasing the bad forces...
I fly an Absolut, beautiful DLG from CZ! One beautiful bird Watch the tail... :

Ernie Misner

Thanks guys. The fin hanging down there makes perfect sense to me now!

Ernie

FallingWithStyle

Hope you don't mind me jumping on your thread, Ernie. I'm in the market too.

David, the Long Shot appears to be a competition-level bird (vacuum formed wing, flaps and ailerons?, 2x cost) so I guess its easy to say it's better than these others. But is it suitable as a first time DLG assuming the pilot is already thermal glider proficient? Is it more fragile for example? Also, does wingspan matter here? I mean should a first-time DLG'r stick to something closer to 40" or is 60" easier to launch?

Anyone, are most of these birds pull-pull setups? That was one thing that attracted me to the GP Fling DLG...

Also, the Long Shot requires you to cut the slot at the end of the cf tube for the rudder. That seems like something I'd screw up. Is this easy for a junior builder? Do all DLG ARF's require you to cut the cf tube?

Thanks
Clark

Ernie Misner

Where are you at on the glider learning curve, Clark? If you are starting out, you would be simply amazed at what you can do with a simple 2 channel glider with dihedral.... (elevator and rudder only), in the 60" size. You can catch a thermal or fly off of a hill or slope, so easy, and so much fun.

We have a park nearby that is nothing more than a flat field. There IS a small grassy hill in one corner though. When the wind is coming directly at that little hill, all it takes is a toss (not even discus launch) and enough altitude is gained to get over the houses and then find a thermal coming off of the rooftops. Have fun!

Ernie

Spacey

I see no body has mentioned the Quickflick IID in here yet? Sure it is not a high performance $400 DLG but a very nice way to get into discus launch gliding I reckon! It got me into it! It's a little scratch build glider a very good friend of mine from Aus designed. I am on my third quickflick now and the design has evolved radically over the last 4 or so months. We now fly the dihedral version and as me and Paul Daniels (The designer) agree now that it is the winner. It only cost me $130 to build the entire plane radio gear included! And I pay ALOT for balsa and radio gear in South Africa. It only takes 4 or 5 nights to scratch build this one and the plans are free! Very little carbon as used as only the tail boom is a 6mm carbon tube and there is a strip of carbon rovings on the spars. We have a huge thread going on another site on the plane so if anyone is interested send me a PM and I will guide you to the plans and info. I'll help with the build as much as I can. If you wanna give DLG gliding and thermal gliding a shot to see if you like it I reckon this is a good place to start?

Here is a little video I made on the maiden of my latest one. I am still learning the whole launch thing though so bare with me. It's about 7MB big so it shouldn't take too long to download.

[link=http://static.rcgroups.com/gallery/data/500/28726Spacey-QFIId.WMV]VIDEO[/link]

FallingWithStyle

Hey Spacey! Long time no talk. I see you are keeping busy.

Ernie, I have several dozen hours in on a large full house glider (Spirit Elite). I have no experience throwing a DLG though so I can't handle something too delicate.

I'm looking for a low cost DLG with ailerons because I specifically want to manage camber. Maybe I'm wrong but I think camber control could really help on a DLG by optimizing the wing for low drag on launch, then max lift after the tip over.

Clark

SoCal GliderGuider

Any workable balsa build up DLG's?

Spacey

Hi Clark,

Yes we haven't stumbled into each other in a while ey? Hehehe...You are right I have been keeping busy. So many things and having a fun time making time to get around to everything. I am now getting into the whole F5J thing and I am loving it. The glider bug sure has bitten. Heck I even somehow ended up with a "scale" Nimbus

Interesting you talk about the full moving trailing edge. We spoke about this alot during the Quickflick design phases (I was not involved with the design just chatting alot with the designer on things of interest). We concluded that the extra weight of the aileron/flap servos and extra mechanics involved would simply add too much weight on the balsa built up model. Right now the Quickflicks come in at around 6.7oz (190 grams) which is really an ideal weight for a DLG of its size. The biggest problem is that you can't really launch the thing high enough to get time to mess with camber controls and such. It's just yank and bank to get into the low level turbulent thermals and getting sucked up by them already require some work. The Camber control would simply complicate things too much in an area where it is really not needed. We have more than ample control and a chuck to hand catch I can manage 98% of the time. I agree with Paul on the subject now that it would be a waste of good weight and build effort to add the ailerons to it. Of course on the high performance glass slipper DLGs it's a totally different story.

Socal: I don't think there is much out there if any that really use a full balsa airframe. There is just too much forces on the stuff to get away without the carbon. And weight is everything really. The Quickflick uses in my eyes the least possible carbon of many I have seen before. But still similar to the Bug and DL50.

Cheers
Rudolf