mars

Strong thermals will send even a lead sled on the big ride up, if you get in them. I have flown lots of wings and combat models that are excellent flying models. I think that EPP is great! But there arn't many MFG these days.
http://www.northcountyflyingmachines.com/M60.htm
Maybe people could post a link if they have one.

J_R

Hi Bruce

Just for the record, Carl was an accomplised RC flyer long before he kitted the GL. He was alreading kitting several R/C power planes, which he had designed. His reference was to the fact that this was the first RC sailplane he had kitted. It was designed for ease of construction and was, in his mind, very basic. Two of our club members, whose names appear on the plans, built the prototype kits. Suggestions were made, which he rejected, as being too complicated for the first time builder/flyer. You need to keep in mind that this kit was competing in a market with several other trainers and sold for $29 retail and $20 street at the time of it's introduction.

Goldberg Models in now owned by Lanier, who have made the changes to the kit... for better or worse.

Hang IV

Ok to circumvent all the above mentioned problems... i'm taking a Gentle Lady and installing a Speed 400 motor with folding prop. Just enough to get rid of all the lead in the nose and replace it with motor and batteries. Get me up 100 ft to the good lift...and away we go....well i hope that's how it will work.

Clean

With the battery and motor you might as well build EPP.

I taught myself to fly on a GL about 2 lifetimes ago and used a histart to do it with. There is nothing to it if you just do it with a little common sense. I spent several afternoons before, and many after, tossing the glider in my back yard, swooping down towards the ground then pulling up to go over the fences all the way down the hill. If I didn't pull up soon enough, it would stick itself between the chain links.

Startnig the Hi-start, Just pull out a little bit at a time till you learn the launch. Right now I have a Global Hobbies Easy 2, it was an ARF on the sell table, couldn't pass it up. It loves thermals and is lots of fun on the no wind slope days.

Another option that takes a little knowledge is to but tail surfaces into a Lanier U-2. This isn't EPP foam, but that sucker will float. There I would use an electric motor though I used a .10 in mine. Many times I would be soloing first time pilots on it, they'd tell me about needing to land before the motor ran out of fuel. I'd remind them that THAT happened about 20 minutes ago.

Johng

My Feedback: (4)

I tought myself to build & fly on a Gentle lady almost 20 years ago. However, one model you should look at is the Dynaflight Wanderer. It's about the same plane and a little nicer lookig tail. One big difference is the spruce spar vs the balsa spar in the GL. THe GL wing is basically brittle next to the more forgiving Wanderer.

Bah, I just looked at the Dynaflight web site and the wanderer is discontinued. Oh, well...

Rick K

My Feedback: (6)

Yes, all that's true and more, Carl Goldberg was one of the legends of model aircraft designers and builders. Free-flight , RC, Scale and Glider/sailplane, he did it all, from what I read in a memorial article in RCM, starting in the late 30's he was already well known in the hobby for his nat. contest winning free flight designs. He was one of the first to 'kit' them and traveled widely by car and trailer to promote them and the hobby in general.
My first plane (also 20 some yrs ago) was also a GL I still remember the extremely fragile ribs which were soooo easy to split. I think I must have had to repair them at least two times eachwhile building, also remember the very sloppy fit of the ribs to the spar. As I recall I ended up pushing them all to the rear and filling the gaps with scrap. Didn't seem to make a difference in how it flew (Great). Built 2 Spohisticated Lady's later, also a good flyer but a very weak tail section, the tail itself and the fuse "wrist" just forward of tail. Have built many planes since (all the usual suspects) but still remember that GL the most for just plain fun.
I have a daughter that's going to turn 9 this month, sort of a 'tom boy' type, I think I just thought of a great B-day present . . .Thanks for the idea!
Rick

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

For any new flyers reading this thread, you will probably need a hi-start to launch your plane. Here is an article on how to use a hi-start

[link=http://www.rcezine.com/cms/article.php?cat=&id=52]How to Use a Hi-Start to Launch Sailplanes[/link]

TFLG

Arthobby has several nice 2-meter ARFs. These are a little more durable and capable than the old standby GLs and Spirits. Yes a little harder to fly but for someone looking for a little sleeker and more up-to-date sailplane these are worth looking at too. arthobby.com

TFLG

danstrider

Bird of Time ARF makes it easy.... can't go wrong with a classic!

Dan

Numb Thumbs

Just my 2 cents worth...[:-]

For a beginner I would heartily agree with EPP! It is klutz proof! If I can't kill it, no-one can!

I have a Defiant (from North East Sailplanes) which is a 2 metre winch/bungy launch glider. Yes, it is heavy - mine is known as "The Lead Sled"! - but it flies well and lands well! I have stalled it in vertically onto a wing tip from 4 metres up and it just bounced! Try that with a balsa model!

I also have a Multiplex EasyStar which I would say is the best first plane you could choose. It is 1.4 metre, moulded Elapor - very similar to and nearly as indestructable as EPP, but lighter -with a Speed400 pusher, rudder/elevator and a fantastic flyer. Very tough, quite light - around 650gms - and can be flown as an electric, it will thermal and it will even fly well on the slope in a light wind (up to 15 knots and the motor saves a long "walk of shame" if the lift dies!). My EasyStar has nosed in under full power from 15 metres up - if I catch the bugger who turned on his transmitter on my frequency... - and only suffered some grass stains on the nose!

I have spent many hours lovingly building a balsa kit into a plane and then seen it turned into a pile of matchwood in a pico-second! Start out with EPP, ideally an ARTF like the EasyStar and get flying. Build your masterpiece when you are likely to be able to enjoy it for a while!

Just MHO! [:-]

Fair winds and strong thermals

David Jones
Australia

tunabiker

I've been "learning" for about a year now, and the Gentle Lady got me going. However, over time my Wanderer has both soared well and predictably and weathered lots of "aggressive" landings. I am sure that Ebay has them available, but finding an available kit is well worth the effort. It is not only easy to build, but quite sturdy and very easy to fly. Good luck!
Bill from So. Cal.

computrav

1) AVOID Northeast Sailplane (NSP) at all costs. I was going to get the Defiant from NSP but am most likely going to order the Gentle Foamy tomorrow instead (I already canceled my NSP order). See the thread I posted about NSP here: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_20...tm.htm#2013884

2) Regarding the Gentle Foamy, I will post feedback here once I get it, build it, and fly it. I am new to this hobby and have only flown a glider (which was an EPP that is out of production) for a few minutes...that's how new I am. Anyhow, when I post my review for the Gentle Foamy, it should be pretty helpful to other newbies out there. Tim of MTN Toys (who makes the Gentle Foamy and other planes), responded to my email full of questions in 1-2 hours and has been VERY helpful so far. Leaps and bounds ahead of NSPs amazinly grotesque service (ok, i'll stop now, just trying to make my point clear that NSP = THE DEVIL). The Gentle Foamy also costs about $15-$20 less and shipping is $8 instead of $20 at NSP...

Here's a link to the MTN Toys site: http://www.mtntoys.com

-Travis

computrav

Here's an update on the Gentle Foamy.

I received it last week. Everything was in order and tons of spare EPP foam was included. At this point in time, I've attached the wing pieces with the wood spars (included) and have cut out holes in the fuselage for almost all of the radio gear. So far so good! I'm using Futaba gear with standard size servos (S3000s).

More updates will come as I have them...

-Travis

BajaBob-delete

Sig Riser would be a good choice.
The GL is also a good choice,its going to be my next.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

We talked about first sailplanes here.

This is the article I did on first sailplanes. Tell me what you think.

[link=http://www.rcezine.com/cms/article.php?cat=&id=36]First Sailplanes[/link]