sawdust

My Feedback: (7)

I want to give slope soaring a try.

And I am looking for a entry level slope sailplane.

Does anyone have any experience with the Gentle Foamy from Mountain Toys? mtntoys.com

Any other suggestions on an entry level plane for slopes?

Thank you.

Bob Breese

mmartin55

Bob,

What is your building skill level? I have a few entry level built up scale ships and we are working on a couple of designs for foamies that are 1. inexpensive, 2. tough, 3. simple to build, 4. larger and better handling both on the slope and in thermals, and 5. are scale!!

The foamies are modelled after the 1-36 T-tail Sprite from Schweizer and the second one is the 1-23A which I hope to publish plans for in the RC press in a couple of months. The specs on each are:

1-36 1:7 scale, 79" wing span (2m), overall length 35 1/4", sd7037 airfoil
1-23A 1:6 scale, 87 5/8" span (2.2m), overall length 41 1/8", sd7037 airfoil

Built ups kits include:
1-26D 70" span
1-26B 60" span
1-26E 80" and 96" spans
2-32 114" span (available in one month)
1-23A-G 105-129" span (available in two months)

ARF kits include:
1-36 111" span
1-26E 96" span
2-32 114" span (available in two months)
1-23 A-G 105-129" span (available in three months)

The 1-23A foamy goes to Wilson lake for test flights next week. The prototype 1-36 should be complete within a month.

Meantime, visit our web site for our selection of built up and ARF scale ships to move to once you get your wings and PM me for photos or emailed plans of the two foamies mentioned above.

Tom Martin
www.tmrcsailplanes.com
"Home of the Schweizers"

mmartin55

Hey, Bob, I forgot to mention, if you have a lot of flying experience on the flats thermalling, you can just take the plane you got out and slope it.

I started flying histart launches with the Astro Flight ASW 15 back in the mid 70s and after I got used to take offs and landings from the histart I immediately went up to the back of the field (at 30th and P in Palmdale CA) and started flying it off the aluvial slope that goes up to the aqueduct there. It was a plastic fuse with fully built up wings and had rudder and elevator only. (flew great but I had more than 45 degrees of rudder throw in it and a full 3/8" of washout in the wing tips).

I then started looking for bigger slopes and ended up flying it up at Vincent (we called it "Cardiac") and at the site across the freeway and overlooking Palmdale Reservoir that we called "the Eagle's Nest".

If you can land well with power or your thermal ship, there really is no need to go back to a trainer just to fly the slopes.

Good Luck,

Tom
tmrc

sawdust

My Feedback: (7)

I will check out your web site and planes.

Landings are ok for me so I will look at slope planes other than beginners.

Thank you for the help.

bob

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

I think the Gentle Foamy is more of a thermal plane, though you can fly it on the slope.

You might consider one of the ZAGI wings, especially if you have a computer radio so you can set your throws easily and set up dual rates and/or exponental for the elevator.

http://www.nesail.com/detail.php?productID=1226

very easy to build, tough as can be.

If you want a thermal plane that you can take to the slope too, then the GF might be OK.

adamkerrnz

www.flycs.com have a look at the jazz extreme or jazz 60"

adamkerrnz

personally, i have a zagi LE. great plane. has an EPP leading edge but rest is normal polystyrene. very strong, no spars, easy to build, and if there is enough wind it is very acrobatic. i use a NZ$25 mixer with a ranger 2. no throw adjustments, i just like it with full throw to do loops and all.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

The quality of the landing area influences what I have sloped, which is only a few times. Two of the spots have very limited landing areas so a balsa built-up plane would be at serious risk of damage. The third has a large parking lot near it, so if there are not many cars around I have plenty of room to land and would consider tossing my Spirit out next time.

I may toss out my Aerobird as well. I tried it for slope once and did badly with it but that was more the pilot then the plane.

mmartin55

Hey Bob,

I just added an EPP version of our little 60" 1-26B to our lineup that may be just the thing for some folks. It has all the scale details by using the same canopy and landing wheel setup of our woodie kit but is 90% EPP with fuse and tail stiffeners to make it more rigid than a traditional foamie such as the Dave's Aircraft version. It comes with five peices of EPP largely cut to shape for minimal finishing of the fuse and the two wings, plus landing wheel, color instrument panel, two peice wing joiners, laser cut ply stiffeners and uses 1/4" ID tubular carbon spars for the wings/joiner system.

PM me for more information or catalog sheet. Kit contents can be viewed here: www.tmrcsailplanes.com/images/1-26Bfoamie2.jpg

Tom
www.tmrcsailplanes.com
"Home of the Schweizers"