jediknight96313

I just recently got into the hobby of RC aircraft and after crashing my Gentle Lady (read my post "I broke my plane" on the Beginners forum on the site) a fellow RC pilot at the hobby shop recommended the Wattage Thermalaire Electric Motor Glider and I bought it. From the information I have gathered, the motor basically get the plane into the air and then shuts off and folds back, leaving the plane to glide unpowered, but I was wondering if the plane then glides back to the ground or can soar and catch thermals as an unpowered glider would. Also, I don't know much about the plane, so I have some questions about it. Is it sturdy? Is it a good plane for beginners? Is it easy to fly? Also, is anyone with a good reputation for selling equipment on the site selling a 6 Channel Radio?

KidVermin

My Feedback: (3)

Jedi:

The Wattage is just as fragile as your Gentle Lady. To make it last,
get some help from that neighbor or another experienced pilot to
help you trim it out and give you some valuable pointers.With the
batteries onboard, they act as ballast. You'll have to find strong
thermals to get it to soar instead of being just a glider that drifts
back down. The batteries are the most important part of the power system. Get a good set of 7 cell Sanyo's 2000 to 2400's
that have a good fast dump rate in order to give a good climb. Cheap packs with a slow discharge will give a poor climb and flight duration. This type of glider is easy to fly as long as the cg is
right on and you do not over control the sticks. Little 1/4" stick
movement is what you need to learn. Slamming the sticks causes
the plane to pitch and stall or weave back-n-forth killing climb
rate and flight duration. Gentle smooth corrections are the best.
Good flying:
Randy

Randy

R. Carver

Jedi,
Randy is dead-on...a couple things I'd like to add-
Since the thermalaire is heavier than the GL it will have to be a flown a tad faster, and landings are a bit faster. With the extra weight, if anything happens on landing (stalling, wing tip catches the ground, etc..) the damage is likely to be greater because the plane has more inertia. Just keep the speed up and you'll be alright. And don't let it slow down too much..just because you pull back on the stick doesn't mean the plane will go up. If it slows too much, just give her a little tap of down elevator. If there's a soaring club nearby I'd strongly suggest you pay a visit.
I read the other thread, and FWIW my first plane was a GL built with elmers too . I was 14, had more time than money and Tower sold the kits for $20. I never caught a thermal with it before the tree gods claimed it as their own. Years later I bought another one for kicks, and it's still one of my favorite planes. They can be specked out from a handlaunch, but you really have to be able to read air well, be a very smooth flier, and have the plane set up right. I've only managed to do it a few times.
By the way, don't forget to keep the speed up on the thermalair

jediknight96313

Thanks for the advice. I don't like the sound of me piloting a fast plane but i'll give it a try and i'll go to a club for sure in order to learn from the pros. Also, how fast should my plane be flying when I am landing, and how is a glider supposed to land?

Kenny-WR

As far as landing,if you get it trimmed right ,I got a .049 glow glider simular to a Gentle Lady when it's 15feet or so up in the landing glide path .I can lay the radio down on the bench and it will come rite and land it self! AND I ain't a top notch pilot flying 4 yrs. It comes in pretty slow!!! My experience with electric gliders has been bad .......they're weight kills them ....to heavy alot heavier by far then My .049 glider and it will float almost to a stand still...But thats my feelings and I had 3 electric gliders I have a Windstar now and it see4ms 4 times heavier then the one I'am flying now.




But thats me.............Just have FUN....Kenny

R. Carver

Jedi, it's not a fast plane by any stretch... It's just that every new pilot that I've seen who has an electric glider tries to fly it waaay too slow. You don't have to have it screaming around the sky, just don't let it get too slow.
As far as landing, Kenny is right..just get her kind of low and it'll land itself. In fact most of our planes fly better without us screwing it up with stick inputs! One of my best flights was one where I forgot to turn the reciever on

ec121

My Feedback: (2)

A friend at the field had an electric Goldberg glider which I believe was the elec. version of the GL. He got about three runups on a charge and occasionally hit a thermal. You have to let the plane build speed for a bit before trying to make it climb and then ease back on the elevator. I would be tempted to buy an Aspire and put an 061 on it. Hobby Lobby sells a motorglider for $122 that is 84" and takes a 15 glow motor. It has a fiberglas fuse and built-up wings. They say it is overpowered with the 15, but it is Italian and that is the motor called for. Probably needs the weight anyway. I'm going to try one. Lots of power and no batteries. I have a Graupner Motorglider(85") now, but it is heavy and needs wheels. No handlaunching. Still fun to sit back in a lawn chair and fly around at a fast idle. Flies about 25min on 4oz. of fuel.

MTT

My Feedback: (8)

Hi, just wanted to add my 0.02 :

After years of flying "pure" gliders, I just got into electrics myself. The reason was that I wanted to become independent of the winch, and be able to go flying at a moments notice.
Glow-power was not an option, because I didn't want to get into that, so I turned to electric power.

I converted my Multiplex Alpina (4m wingspan, full-house) to electric power, using a brushless Kontronik FUN 500-27 with 5.2:1 gearbox, Aeronaut 14x8.5 folding prop, and 14 1700mAh cells, and the results have been excellent !
The battery pack gives me 3 climbs to altitude higher than I ever reached with a winch.
The all up weight of the Alpina basically is increased only by the weight of the battey pack, since the motor replaces the lead which used to be in the nose.
The thermaling performance doesn't seem to be vey affected, best result so far was 35 min. after motor shutdown, and my thermaling abilities are not that great !

I realize that this setup is way bigger and more expensive than what you guys are talking about in this thread, but my point is, that if you want to fly gliders with electric power, you need to start with gliders in the 100" span range, in order to retain good thermaling capabilities.
I think that the GL's, Aspires and the likes are just too small to take the additional weight of the electric drive.
For example, I have read lots of negative posts about the Aspire EP : First, it doesn't have enough power to get to altitude quickly, and once it has reached it, it doesn't thermal very well, because it is too heavy.

If you are interested in a good electric powered glider, look at this thread about the FVK Silent Dream 2.8 in the E-Zone : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...threadid=49529

Michael

JayBFlyer

My Feedback: (5)

Also, there is a guy in these post that swears by the Hobby Lobby Skimmer. Do a seach for it. He says it does amazing things. Maybe the only 2meter that is decent. Inexpensive too.
Jayb

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

You can always add a power pod to a non-powered glider. Here is what I am doing with my Spirit.

RES 2 meter Glider - My first glider - 65 flights before the big crash trying to move from hi-start to winch launching

As part of the repair, I am rearranging all interior components from original
positions to reduce ballast weight required and accommodate removable electric
power pod for alternate launch method by electric motor. Built the power pod
a couple of months ago.

Here is the pod I built:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJ769&P=7

R/C Flyer

My Feedback: (7)

Hi

Most 2M gliders can be converted to glow by either not installing the nose block or sanding it off and installing a plywood fire wall to bolt the engine to. You will ne to build in some right and down thrust. I have a Norvell .074 on my GL and it works well. A .10 to .15 works on a 3M plane. Happy Flying!

R/C Flyer

R/C Flyer

My Feedback: (7)

Hi

Most 2M gliders can be converted to glow by either not installing the nose block or sanding it off and installing a plywood fire wall to bolt the engine to. You will need to build in some right and down thrust. I have a Norvell .074 on my GL and it works well. A .10 to .15 works on a 3M plane. Happy Flying!

R/C Flyer

Balsa Steel

My Feedback: (3)

My first sailplane was a Great Planes Spectra RTF from Tower Hobbies. It has plenty of power for climbing to altitude, and though heavier than a pure glider, the flight times are no less than 15 minutes per charge on a bad day and 30-40 minutes are the norm on a decent day. I've had it up for over an hour. However, the wind here in Oklahoma almost demands a heavier wing loading for penetration, so it's a good choice for my situation. A heavier wing loading increases the sink rate, and makes it fly a little faster, but that in turn converts to a little more lift, and added control response.

If you have a hi-start, you can take out the heavy battery, switch harness, and speed control, plug a small receiver battery directly into the receiver and it's a real floater on a calm day!

I also have a 118 inch Bird Of Time with an OS 10 LA on a homemade power pod and that is more power than it needs. A .15 would be out of the question on this thing. The .10 LA is cheaper than a hi-start and launches 3 times as high. With a 2 ounce tank, I fly it like a hot dog sport plane on the deck for a few minutes, then climb to altitude with the remaining fuel and head for my lawn chair.

Bumstead

My Feedback: (2)

I have a Gentle Lady that I built stock. Covering is SoLite and standard servos.
I run a 1100 8 cell NiMh with a speed 400 on a MP Jet 3:1 gearbox and a Graupner
10 X 8 CAM folder. It will climb to speck height and glide all day long
and when my neck gets sore, I bring her down and it will climb again.
The big drawback to electric 2-meter birds are sub-c NiCads.
Thay weigh a ton compared to smaller NiMH packs or Lipos.
I am into cheap and the NiMH packs with a brushed speed 400 gets my plane up as fast as I want.
Ditch the power hungry Goldfire 550/Speed 550/600 whatever direct drive and go to a leeetle speed 400
with a gearbox and 10 x 8 prop and you will be convinced

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

It is funny you say that only a speed 400 is needed. The Electra and the Spectra, 2M e-glider versions of the GL and the Spirit are based on speed 600 motors needing those subC packs and people complain that they are too weak and swap them out for even bigger stronger brushless motors.

It is great that you are getting good performance from a geared speed 400 on 11 mah nimh cells.

I presume these are AA size cells?

Silverhawk

My Feedback: (1)

My Sophisticated Lady was converted to electric a few years ago. I'm doing the S400 6V with the 3.8:1 Gearbox and 11x8 prop. The pack is either an 8 cell 600AE or one of my 8x1700AU Zagi packs. It just depends on the conditions, more wind = bigger pack. The weight with the 600AE pack is about 32 oz. and about 7 oz/sq ft.

The SL will float just fine and most of the input from the transmitter is done on the trims and not the sticks while floating. I catch thermals on the climb quite often. It can be slowed to a crawl to float around. The climb is around 12 to 15 degrees but after a minute or two it's at 400 or 500 feet which is enough to start playing. If I really want to climb faster I will go up to 10 cells and get close to 2x the height before I cut the motor.

I also have a SOBOX 2M Storm moldie with F10LMR on 7 - 10 CP-1700's (zapped) and 14x9.5 to 13x7 props and a Reichard XL3200 with a 1409/2Y, 3.7:1 gearbox, 14 CP-1700's (zapped), 14x9.5 to 18x10 props. The Storm will climb straight up on the 10 cell pack and thermal nicely and I've competed with it. The XL3200 climbs at about 60+ degrees 'cause I'm still afraid of tearing the wings off. Both need spoilerons or flaps to get down for a nice landing and the XL3200 will float like a much lighter plane. I'm also getting a Castor 2.5 ready for the season.

I guess my point is that electrics will thermal quite nicely but, as I found out, you get what you pay for. Don't try to go with the cheap and have a dozen mediocre planes that disappoint you. Save a couple of extra bucks and get a decent plane, good geared motor, and a good battery pack. Build light but don't skrimp and don't get sucked into the "If it don't climb vertical it's not good enough" syndrome.

BTW, I fly the SL more than any of my other 23 planes.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

This is a VERY interesting thread. I am surprised at the size of the motors you are using.

Anyone else flying 2M planes of this class with Speed 400s and AA packs?

tkilwein

I have the gentle lady #6 going on 20 years flying them.
My latest one has the PJS1000 10x4.7 prop lipo 2100 3 cell and CC45 controller.
AUL weight is 24 oz. the motor puts out 48 oz of thrust at 5000 feet in denver.
It goes straight up wagging the tail on the way up.
Cruising it draws approz 2-3 amps. wide open 30 amps.[img][/img]

Always will have one.

Tony