Test005

I'm looking into this glider business a bit and have some questions.
I currently fly glow planes and like it alot, but the tranquility and grace of gliders facinates me.
what are the types:

Glider: Normal unpowered.
Sailplane: Same a sGlider, just another name?
Electric glider: Normal glider with electric power.
Slope glider: Throw it off a cliff and it should ?!? come back up? Because it gets thrown off a cliff it's more sturdy than the thermal glider, right?
Thermal Glider: More fragile and lighter than slope glider, gain hight with warm thermal air
Hotliner: ? What's this? It sounds fast... I like it!


I've seen gliders with the electric motor in the nose or motor gondola on the top of the glider.
These are usually electric, but I ask you... Hoping not to offend you "silent flight" guys: Wouldn't it be pretty convinient to chop the nose off a normal unpowered glider and put a small fourstroke in there?
Together with a small fuel tank you'd have an excellent power-package to launch the glider and climb until the fuel run out?
This way you'll burn the ballast fuel and can glide down lighter as opposed to a battery pack which will keep the same weight full or empty.

Since I'm flying glo, and like it alot I'd be tempted to stick a glow engine in a glider and use it in two ways:
- Full power for maximum altitude
- Idle - 25% power and cruise along at low altitude making low fly-bys.

Does anybody have experience with this motor option or is a big no-no to show up at a field with a smoke puffing glider?
Hey! Is this a hotliner?

Landi

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Hi

Sailplane and Glider are the same thing.

Slope gliders are a little stronger than Thermal gliders but a lot of the Thermal gliders a suitable for the slope to.

Hotliners are used for the slope and for dynamic soaring.

The advantage of using electric is that you can stop the motor and strt again any time you want. So if u launch the glider and find a thermo fast you can shot the engine down and use it again once u get to low. All this you cant do with a engine.

Combustion Engines are noisy and make your glider dirty.

You have to have wieght in the nose of a glider because if not it becomes tail havy and uncontrolable. and the weight should be the same at all times during the flight if not it will chenge the flight caracteristics and u wont know when u hit a thermo and so on.

If u fly a glider u dont do fly bys or max one just before landing if u want to do fly bys and show of remain with your regular models.

Saludos Landi.

SoCal GliderGuider

There are gliders and there are sailplanes. Basically a glider is towed to an altitude and released to descend to a landing. Troop gliders of WW2 are a good example. However IF the pilot of that troop glider was able to find a boomer of a thermal and gained altitude he could claim to be a sailplane. I guess the Cessna 170 I flew in a desert-marine shear line with the engine off and gaining altitude could have been reclassified as a sailplane.

A sailplane is a design that is intended to gain altitude unlike the fore mentioned troop glider.

Any sailplane (and troop glider) could be flown off of a slope IF the winds are strong enough and the shape of the slope or mountain range is high enough. There was a 707 pilot that was told to wait for landing at Denver. He asked that he loiter over the rocky mountains. So an hour and a half later he was told he could land. The ground crew freaked out as he had way more fuel than he should have had. Seems the pilot also few sailplanes and for that hour and a half few in some pretty strong ridge (standing wave) lift off of the rocky mountains with the throttles back to idle.

Test005

Oh yeah, good point about the on-off possibility on an electric, didn't think about that.
I also guess a folding prop is better suitable than a rigid glass prop used on the combustion engine!

What about this one; It's called Blue Bird, it's from J.Perkins and is available at my LHS for $175:- including "600 turbo fan motor" (Whatever that is).
What kind of extras would one need?
-ESC, which kind/size, (remember I have no idea of electric flight or equipment)
-Battery pack, what voltage, cells, capacity

(I have the Futaba CR-2000 charger and don't plan to get a new one only to get a future glider airborne, will this charger be enough for any pack powering a "600 turbo fan motor")

[link=http://www.jperkinsdistribution.co.uk/detail.php?JPNO=5500274&activepage=1&Navmain=Aircraft%20-%20ARTF%20&subcatname=ARTF%20-%20JP]Blue Bird[/link]


What about this V-tail?
I have always flown 4-channel planes with ailerons and standard tail.
The V looks cool, but how does the flight caracter compare to a "normal" aileron plane?
Also, this 3-channel don't seem to have any control surfaces on the wings, I know some glider have flaps and crow to slowdown, will this plane be hard to land due to very long approach?


...And for the record Landi, I don't tend to do low fly bys to "show-off" I just enjoy it, what ever the plane it might be!
I recon that all my planes will have to endure the occasional low altitude, full throttle fly bys with me smiling behind the radio.

Landi

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HU

I almost have the feeling that I touched a sore tooth

Ok now back to business.

Folding prop is a must if not u will generate to much drag during your glids and u will loos speed an altitude much faster.

The kind of extras u will need depends on the plane / motor combination u choose.

Go to Hobby Lobby (http://www.hobby-lobby.com/elsailb.htm) they have a very good selection and they also recomend good setup configurations from there u can always pick and choose what u want. My personal favorite is the Elegant 700 I do not have one but at our field 2 guys have one and i had the opportunity to fly those babys in several ocations and they perform great. And by the way if u use a computer radio u can program speed settings (change the chamber of the wing) and then u will have great penetration... also suitable for very fast fly bys.

V tail is also a option because they generate less drag.

Saludos Landi

Test005

Hey, no worries Landi and thanks for the advice.

I'd like some opinions though on the specific plane I mentioned above because I don't live in the states and have to buy planes local because many mailorder companies don't ship planes due to size restrictions, also it's a great fuzz to clear it through customs, paperwork etc...

So, anyone have heard of J.Perkins or can have a look at the plane I posted and share some impressions of this bird?

Also, I'd appreaciate if anybody that know lots about chargers can tell if the Futaba CR-2000 could charge a flight pack ffor one of this electric motors or if it's purely designed to charge small RX-packs?

And yes I use a computer radio, the Futaba 9C

propbuster

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I have a 2m Ace High MKll motor glider that I like a lot. It has a TD .051 on a pod and it gets it up to altitude in a hurry! There's increased drag incurred with the pod set up and also the prop doesn't fold back like an electric can. For slow lazy flying I've been looking into either the .049 powered Piece O Cake or the .15 powered Butterfly by Dynaflite. The Piece O Cake has a 72" wingspan and the Butterfly is like 99". One of the two will probably be my next project.

propbuster

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Picture of my Ace High MKll before mounting the .051