Posts: 448
Joined: 5/24/2003 From: San Francisco,
CA, USA Status: offline
A friend of mine just finished one. Bottom line-you get what you pay for. While, yes, its a lot of plane for the money, the quality isnt quite as high as some of the eastern european kits. That being said, his came out nice and he's happy with it. If youre buying on price and you dont have plans on spending $600-$1000 for a 3.5-4 meter scale plane, go for it. If you can afford to go above $500, you can look for a clean used 4-meter plane. Spend some time searching "Scale Sailplanes" on google. Theres large kits of vintage sailplanes that are very reasonably priced, Such as the WWII TG-2 and 3.
Posts: 322
Joined: 5/11/2004 From: Reading,
PA, USA Status: offline
Well, it's really quite simple....
...see, the wing moves through the air, right?....and there's all this high pressure and low pressure stuff going on....never could keep it all straight, but the idea is, if you get it going forward fast enough, it'll probably fly. Until it doesn't anymore. Then you go buy another one! See? Simple!
Posts: 19
Joined: 11/14/2004 From: Holden,
MA, USA Status: offline
Hey you, who fly slow planes
That's not how it flies. It's all based on very sound, magic principles. You got that straight now. OK. Myself I use the Gandalf based, magic levitation spells. But that's just a personal preference. Pretty much any magic based on the "up is better than down" incantations, will work. Your mileage may or may not vary.
Posts: 174
Joined: 5/12/2004 From: Little Rock (via London Eng.),
AR, USA Status: offline
I'm interested in one of these too understanding that you get what you pay for! Does anyone think that this will be hi-startable or winchable?, or is it too heavy for that.
Keith
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Posts: 2375
Joined: 2/1/2002 From: Middletown,
NJ, USA Status: offline
I have one.
It seems to be a nice ARF. I had a Robenmodel(SP?) ASK-21 4.2M and have a 4M Alpina, it's lighter than both. It appears to have a lighter glass fuse, it uses a stab pivot like my RnR Genesis, but the stabs servo is in the lower tail which makes for a very positive setup. The wing rod is a 10MM round rod, I like that better than the wing blades on the Alpina, but not as much has the hollow 23MM tube of the ASK-21. I also have their 103 e-sailplane it uses the same rod, a little over kill there, a little under sized here. The wing looks as if the airfoil is a SD-7080, a MH-32 look alike. It seems one guy sells an all white one, the guy I bought mine from had them cover the bottom of the wing in red, so if scale is your thing get the all white one, if you're looking at it as an inexpensive XC ship get the red and white one, mine's red and white.
Rich Border
EDIT...I think the airfoil is a S6063, which is much thinner than the SD7080. S6063 is about 7%, 1.42% camber, it will be fast.
< Message edited by soarrich -- 1/27/2006 2:08:16 AM >
Posts: 51
Joined: 12/26/2005 From: Manchester,
CT, USA Status: offline
Very Difficult to balance on the center of lift. Canopy is not scale and is flimsy. Tail-post was not epoxied in well and had to be re-done, adding weight to the tail. Wing tips are not a good fit. Very strong Fuselage and wings, nice fiberglass fuse, wings are true and resilient, but the airbrakes are not flush in the surface of the wing. Flying stabilizer pivot block was crooked, and the stab had to be shimmed. Design calls for a servo in the tail to acuate the flying stab, should be a cable or pushrod to keep the tail light. Overall, a very pleasant looking and airworthy plane, but some flaws in design and manufacture. An experienced builder would find this ARF a great project starting point. I have yet to fly the Discus 4 meter ship, since my field is too small. I think the airbrakes need work, operation and also in that the profile doesn't seem to have effectiveness on a ship this size and weight. They may not slow the ship much. I may incorporate mixing on the ailerons to provide flap or "crow" deflection of the ailerons to slow the ship for landing. This plane could be difficult to land, and landing fields are few and far between, and a modeller on the ground must usually land near himself, just to be able to see the plane well enough to maintain the ships attitude close to the ground, considering ground effect, and it's my opinion that the approach may have to be very, very long.
Posts: 4
Joined: 9/24/2002 From: Bloomington,
MN, USA Status: offline
I just purchased one in late November 2005 at eBay Auction offered by "New York Grace Inc's eBay Store" / "Excel Hobby" - imported Chinese 4 meter (157" ARF Semi Scale Discus . . . The over all quality is acceptable and actually exceeded my expectations; the fiberglass fuselage is very good; the wings are true and strong. The overall quality is better than my expectations as I was a bit skeptical when I bid on it because several in our group here over the past several seasons have received some real Junk ARF's mfg in China of several similar ARF's from other sources. This plane is from the same product line offered through a dealer in the UK http://rchobby.co.uk/discus_4_0m.html . . . The plane has no Flaps, but the Air Brakes are 17mm high x 440mm long; they work OK, but are not perfectly smooth working so I will use the same JR Premium Digital Coreless Hi Torque Digital Mini DS3421's with 65 oz/in torque on them that I am also using for Ailerons, Rudd & Elevator. OVERALL for the money, it most certainly has overall good worth and value (at least in my opinion and for my intended purpose). MY major irritation, was that NO Assembly Drawings/Instructions arrived with the plane, nor any drawings showing the CG position, trimming information, or anything! I emailed them at once, and PROMTLY received a reply with a .pdf file attached that is adequite for any soaring enthusiast with at least intermediate experience with building and flying sailplanes; but, then 4 meter class sailplanes arn't really a beginners project anyway! I am setting-up mine to be my first large Aerotow trainer and will "BELLY MOUNT" the Tow Release using the "neat" hi-quality Tow Release mechanism offered by "Z Mark Enterprise" http://mysite.verizon.net/vze2qbfc/ . One could cut Flaps into the wing should you want to go to all that much trouble if you must have camber and reflex trimming; with the huge spoilers, however, Flaps arn't really a necessity for landings. Wishing you all "GOOD LIFT" all-the-way-through-the "BANK!" - John Bittle AMA 26317 "Minnesota RC Soaring Society" johnb@ourtownusa.net
Posts: 2375
Joined: 2/1/2002 From: Middletown,
NJ, USA Status: offline
John Bittle
Could you post the PDF that you recieved? My kit had a small paper that said balance at 74mm back, but it was the same paper that came with my 103 inch e-sailplane by the same manufacturer.
The lower tow release looks like it works better than the nose releases that I've used, you seem to be able to get above the two plane easily. I had a ASK-21 by Robenmodel(SP?) with a nose release and it took full up to get above the towplane.
I think I'll use the little slit in the fuse way of doing tow release, but it will be down low. My Alpina has a nose release, it will be an interesting test to see how they compare.
Posts: 16
Joined: 1/20/2006 From: riverview, MI, USA Status: offline
Did you add a wheel? Or is that a shadow? If yes, which one? And what servos did you use? Anything you'd do different now in building? How is the tail servo attached? How are you holding the wings on?
Thanks, Edward
< Message edited by emerckx -- 1/20/2006 4:18:09 PM >
Posts: 16
Joined: 1/20/2006 From: riverview, MI, USA Status: offline
Got the PDF he sent today, it is the same as the plan in the box but in color and you can enlarge it. All those black line on the printed one are a little confusing, the color helps clear things up. I'd post it but they won't let me post a PDF here. Did everyone use the hardware that came with it? Or upgrade it? Edward
< Message edited by emerckx -- 1/21/2006 2:50:55 AM >
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> RC Gliders, Sailplanes and Slope Soaring >> 157" Discus Glider 
157" Discus Glider - 
RE: 157" Discus Glider - 
RE: 157" Discus Glider - 
ARF Semi Scale Discus . . . The over all quality is acceptable and actually exceeded my expectations; the fiberglass fuselage is very good; the wings are true and strong. The overall quality is better than my expectations as I was a bit skeptical when I bid on it because several in our group here over the past several seasons have received some real Junk ARF's mfg in China of several similar ARF's from other sources. This plane is from the same product line offered through a dealer in the UK 