ray foley

hi there fromToledo

As fate would have it my flying student recently picked up a used purple Aspire with can motor, nicads, and brush motor ESC. He had a 480 class outrunner from a previous crash, and a 50 amp ESC, and 3s 2250 mah 25C lipo pack. So he asked me to redo the front end of the Aspire to accommodate the newer gear, so I did.

Out came the formers and triangle balsa forward of the LE, in went 1/32" ply doublers and extra balsa and plywood to stretch the fuselage by an inch for better balance with the lighter gear. I added a new nose ring for the Master Airscrew folder prop and spinner, a new motor mount and triangle stock to help round out the nose area. The stock canopy was in poor condition so we made a "canopy" from balsa and neodymium magnets. We kept the dowels for the rubber bands, he is a newbie after all.

I then checked the wing for flatness, sheesh, one panel had wash in, the other huge washout. So I heated up the covering iron and twisted the panels and ironed out the wrinkles as needed to flatten the wing panels. I also tightened the covering of the fuselage and tail feathers and recovered the front end as needed.

The ESC is connected by 3.5 mm bullet connectors to the motor and xt60 connectors to the safety jumper and battery. The battery sits centered on the spar for a slightly rearward C/G, fine by me, lets fly!

And fly it did, I mean Wow! The revised Aspire climbs effortlessly, glides quite well, and became a dot when I found a thermal 1 minute into the maiden flight, outstanding. It took about 5 minutes of full up and full right spirals to get back down to a reasonable altitude. I handed my student the tx and he mosied the Aspire over to where the thermal had been and soon the Aspire was a dot again.

What more can I say? Except I was delighted by this updated Aspire. It is a keeper for sure.

The next mod will be spoilers for landing accuracy and getting down from the wild blue yonder before it disappears.

ciao -rjf

hey jstrach:

Try a lighter battery it makes a tremendous difference. ciao rjf

jstrach

Ray, I am so pleased you responded - and your recent experience in this conversion is valuable insight...and much appreciated you took the time to share with the write up.

Couple responses:
1) Is there any chance you might upload some pictures of your conversion? (I am uploading my stock can motor setup picture below for people's reference.)
2) >> Try a lighter battery it makes a tremendous difference.
I did switch from my 8.4V NiMH 3600mAh pack (17.45oz) to my 2S LiPo 5000mAh (9.90oz); I don't think I'm going to see additional weight savings here that is significant...?
3) We don't really have good thermals at my club's field sad to say. Pretty flat area. Most of the fellas do their high-start and glide around for maybe 7 minutes. This is my first glider and I was just looking for a little experience flying a slow moving, large wingspan aircraft. More educational than anything.
4) I would be curious to learn more about your spoiler modification although the conditions I fly probably don't require them.


Thanks Ray!
Jerome

P.S. Does anyone have a small, lightweight videocamera to recommend? There are probably other threads to discuss aerial photography strategies, setups, etc. - I will go looking soon...I would like to get some aeial video - again never have done this so it's more experimental / educational experience I'm looking for in this regard.

ray foley

hi there from Toledo

A 2250 mah 2s lipo pack weighs about 4 ounces, changing from a 5000 mah lipo will definitely lighten the Aspire by 5 ounces or so (That is quite significant), improve the climb under power, enhance the thermal performance, and flatten the glide slope. Setting the C/G to the max rearward position improves the way the plane indicates lift and sink but it requires more attention by the pilot which is also good.

Regarding spoilers, you will eventually get caught up in the mother of all up suck thermals. It will happen and as your glider specks out and disappears you will wish you had taken the time to research spoiler installation and had installed them into your Aspire. Sometimes a full right and full up spiral won't bring a sailplane down if the lift is strong enough and a sustained dive will only break you wing joiner. At that point the plane comes down as a lawn dart and fluttering wing panels, [:@] not good.

best regards -rjf

jstrach

Ohhh!! I know what I was wanting to ask - you mentioned the magnets on the balsa canopy! So I did someGoogling and was seeking out little magnets - but only found large quantity vendors. The 100 pcs were $11.50 + $9 shipping - but I don't think I need that many so I was wondering if you have any thoughts on where someone can find little button magnets for just a couple bucks...?

i was thinking of trying Michael's craft store.

Here is what I found online - if anyone is interested:
http://www.amazingmagnets.com/show-decimal-d032a.aspx

My hard to find canopy that was perfect, well I didn't notice that the front block lifted on the landing, and when I relaunched it the canopy slid slightly into the propeller and damaged the front of it slightly. Had I had button magnets instead of relying solely on the rubberband, this wouldn't have happened... grrrrrrr.


Re: 2S LiPo - you're right, I just weighed a 2S 2200mAh 30C LiPo pack I have and it's 4.50 oz exactly. (Not to mention 40% shorter in length!) I'll definitely throw it in next time I take out the Aspire and see what kind of duration I get out of it.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Horizon does have some parts for the Aspire, but not the canopy
http://www.horizonhobby.com/webapp/w...0/:cp=2/:ip=9/:

Also this thread may have some useful information about the e-aspire

ray foley

hi there from Toledo

I purchased the neodymium magnets from the LHS at a reasonable price.

Oh yeah the p. o. s. canopy regularly finds its way into the prop which is why they are hard to find. Make a balsa "canopy" from 3/16" medium balsa and add a couple of rails across the equipment bay for the magnets and a couple of balsa pieces to keep the canopy from sliding side to side. you can add more magnets to the canopy or steel screws which line up with the magnets in the cross rails. It is easy, really. however it changes the looks somewhat, I think for the better but that is just me.

ciao -rjf

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

That battery is WAY too big.  A 2100 might be more appropriate and would probaby cut 4-5 ounces which, for that glider, is a lot.

da Rock

Radio Shack has rare earth magnets. I've seen them as a package of 4. They're exactly the right size for canopies. Don't remember the price, sorry.

jstrach

That thread is excellent, thanks for the pointer. Ironically, the C-35 mini Electrifly ESC is exactly what I put in the Aspire. Funny... I tried to configure the brake but on my last flight, I still had a wind-blown prop spinning as I landed - so I'll have to revisit that ESC settings I guess.

ray foley

hi there from Toledo

To stop a windmilling prop, slowly add up elevator until the Aspire is about to stall, the prop will generally stop and fold if the blades are adjusted right. Then recover from the stall and just fly away.

Set the ESC for brake mode if you can, it really helps.

ciao -rjf

sawdust

My Feedback: (7)

So nice to see a new post on the Aspire EP. I have a brand new EP that I will maiden soon. This will be my 4th Aspire EP. None of the first 3 were powered with the stock motor. I let one get away from me in a strong thermal. It had an Master AirScrew brushed geared motor with a 12 x 8. On the next two I used a Phasor 30/3 with a 9 x 6 prop on a 3200 3 cell. Way overpowered; but a blast to fly. The second Aspire was torn apart by a strong dust devil. I had no idea that there was a big dust devil in the area as I was looking up way above the devil. But when I lost lift and was down to the altitude to restart the motor I flew right into the full force of the dust devil. It literally stripped the wings off the Aspire. The third one was lost to pilot error - wrong plane in the memory and left was right. Right into the ground that is.

My new Aspire is built from one of the last EP fuselages that Horizon had. I purchased the wings and tail also from Horizon. I had two canopies. This was in 2011. I purchased a Mega 22/30/3 off eBay for $25.00. It bolted right in. It will be powered by a 2 cell 2200 lipo. The prop will probably be an 11 x 6. Got to do some more testing to decide on the prop.

Always looking for a new Aspire EP. But they are very hard to find. I don't think one has come up on eBay for almost a year.

Have fun with your Aspires. Hang on to those canopies as they are hard to find. I tape mine on.

Todd

jstrach

Funny Todd, that's exactly what I did to be sure it wouldn't come off again... put a strip of electrical tape across the front of it. (Until I find some magnets) ;-)

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

If you guys love the Aspire, and what is not to love, then you can find sources here:
http://www.hangar-9.com/Products/Def...ProdID=HAN1950

Put in your zip code and it will tell you where there are dealers in your area.  And even if they are not close, they can probably ship you something you need. 

jstrach

I was under the impression the plane was long out of production; is this a new run I wonder? Months ago I called the local hobby store that link points me to in search of the canopy, but they said Hangar 9 doesn't support that model any longer. Confused.

da Rock

If the Aspire still is being sold, Hangar9 won't be selling many of them. Their website shows no gliders at all that I could find. Their parts support lists the planes they have parts for and Aspire isn't on that list.

It really looks like Hangar9 isn't marketing the Aspire and haven't for awhile.

I usually do an internet search every couple of months, looking for places that stock decent 2m 'starter' sailplanes. For awhile now, there haven't been too many that have them in stock. A number have advertised gliders but seem to never have them.

After seeing this today, I checked a couple again and was surprised to see that Tower shows the Bird of Time, Vista, and Fling in stock. They've also got a couple of their foamies too. Kewl....... Horizon shows a number of foamies and scale gliders, as usual. However, they also show House of Balsa 2x4 and 2x6 kits. (no ARFs)

da Rock

As for the canopy...............

There really isn't a rule against having a solid canopy. They're not too hard to make if you have a block plane and have gotten the knack of it. In fact, once you've gotten something hacked out, it's easy as pie to mold a clear one using a 2L pop bottle. We've just had an excellent How-To thread that covers the process. Look at Nodd's 'nose job' thread for that. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11082536/tm.htm

Don't try to make a solid one out of balsa. Use solid insulation foam. It's easy to plane and sand. Messy but easy. I got the shape I wanted in probably 15-20 minutes (and a cloud of foam dust). It won't be super smooth. I coat it with finishing resin and then sand that.... another cloud of dust.