H.Dale

My Feedback: (3)

I have an old 7lb Wren 44. A turbine powered glider looks like an interesting change from the usual sport or scale jet. I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion for a glider that could be easily adapted for that turbine?

jetster81

I have a Topmodel Swift powered by an old wren and I know of a Topmodel Fox with one, I f I had the option again I would go for the Fox as there is loads more room for the installation. Both fly great.

H.Dale

My Feedback: (3)

Jetster81

That looks like an excellent choice. Do you know if they ship to the United States and where I might purchase a turbine mount and fuel tank? It looks like it may be hard to find a tank to fit. Do you have any pictures of your installation? That would really help.

Thanks for your help and suggestion.

Hal - Spitfire Brotherhood #45

jetster81

Hi Hal, I am sure you can get them in the US take a look around the Glider importers you will find them there somewhere. They are made in Czech Republic and are of super quality Glass fuz and glass reinforced foam wings, very strong. Also they are highly prefabricated with installed wiring loom, cockpit, etc mine even has the retract in , canopy fitted and all decals applied. They are well worth the money in my view. The mount I made myself with a bit of 12mm ply screwed to the fuz and the mounting strap I did out of some Ali strip, really not difficult at all . One thing to bear in mind is to buildt in 2-3 mm down trim and a mm of side this is to deflect the blast away from the fin a little and does not effect the handling at all. Tank, you can use a Dubro 950 ml maximum I have a home made 750 ml in mine. If you already fly gliders then you will be aware they are ultra efficient and loads of power is not required to do any manoeuvre. Mine flies around on a quarter stick mostly. The old Wren is actually over powered for the Swift!. Ideal would be the new Jetmunt 35 when it arrives.

Henke Torphammar

Opus is a great performer if you want something in the smaller size capable of spectacular show flying With my 550cc fuel tank it flies for a reasonable time too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fgx39Vq2lE

Jgwright

Hal

Yes the Topmodel is a nice strong plane. I have my Sprite engine on the Swift and it has really good performance. I have 3.2 Kg thrust so it is pretty comparable to the 44.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUv7j_r-L1c I have 2 600cc tanks and get 10 minutes flying time. The one tank is forward of CG where the pilot would sit and the other is to the rear behind the wheel. The tanks are in series so the rear tank drains first. CG change has not been an issue. The mount is a simple ply block made up and inserted into a slot cut in the fibreglass. I extended it down to spread the load and glued it to the rear tank and also to the skin around the slot I cut. We have had loads of flying with this model and used it as a test bed for the engines. The plane is very strong and heavy. Our flying weight with fuel is 8 KG. The one we bought was the option with everything fitted including wheel and air brakes. They are needed if you fly in reasonably still conditions and are very effective.

John

jetster81

Erm, his criteria is something to take his old Wren 44. I'd like to see that on an Opus!

Jgwright

Hal

I should add that I found the plane would bury its nose in the ground at takeoff so I fitted at first a simple external wheel which looked awful ugly. I now have a simple cheap electric retract and small wheel ahead of the front tank that I can retract after takeoff. It does not come down on landing. I ordered my plane direct from the Czech republic.

John

Jgwright

Just to make it clear my model is 3.14 m wingspan and they do make a larger one at 3.73 m.

John

jetster81

Hi John, do you have any side or down on your installation? As mine gets away without nosing over but I have to be careful?

Hal, I just found that you can get Topmodel CZ kits from Espirit model on your side.

Jgwright

No I forget we have the retracting second nose wheel, it is just a tight squeeze to get one in. It takes very little load so does not need to be super strong. Without it we did get nose over particularly flying off grass. We fly off both grass and tarmac. The tanks I used were dubro 600 cc tanks. Early on we had rudder flutter probably caused by the airstream from the turbine. The plane can be landed without the rudder as we found out! I subsequently fitted the rudder with a servo in the fin and a short direct link. I also fitted 3 pivot points rather than relying on just one at the base and one at the top of the fin. Amazingly the retracting main wheel has stood all the landings without a problem. The doors on the main wheel have just had new elastic bands and again have operated without a problem.

John

H.Dale

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks for all of the help everyone. I decided to go with the Fox. Very reasonably priced and a nice looking glider. If anyone has a photograph of their mount I would appreciate seeing how you did it.

Is is possible to hand launch it? We don't have a paved runway where I fly.


Hal - Spitfire Brotherhood #45

jetster81

Hal, The Fox is a good choice and there is lots of room for the install the one I know has a coke bottle for the tank and is much easier to fit up than the Swift because of that huge cockpit. it is a big model and you would struggle hand launching unless you were on a slope which is slightly defeating the object. It will get away from good grass no problem. if you pm me i will send a couple of snaps I did during the build of the original tank install and the motor mount.

cbooth1979

My Feedback: (22)

Im in the process of building an Airworld 4m Fox/P-60se combo and yes the Fox is a good platform to mount a turbine on. Does anyone know if a 40oz./1200cc tank will be enough for fuel? I would think so as the P-60 says 8oz/min at full throttle. Obviously it will not be at full power very much so Im thinking ill be good. I was told to keep the engine as low as possible as the Fox is kind of tall in the mid section and can tip forward on take off. Sorry not trying to hijack the thread, I will post pics of my progress to maybe give some ideas.

-Carl

jetster81

Hey Carl, the P60 will give you all the poke you need in that airframe. my mount is simply a piece of 12 mm ply sandwiched with some 2mm glass sheet and yes it is as low as I could get it and as near the CG whilst still being able to open the Hatch. Re tank, you should have bags of room to put a larger one again as near to the balance point also. The Topmodel Fox I know of on a 60 has a a pop bottle of I think 1.5ltr(but a 2ltr will fit easily) and he gets around 10 mins with juducial throttle use and lots to spare,as you say they don't need much to keep them in the air.

gooseF22

check esprit models website and look at the salto V tail. I was thinking about doing it myself with a gold 44

H.Dale

My Feedback: (3)

Much larger and more expensive that the Fox but would be a beautiful glider. I'm afraid it would be too heavy for the 7 lb. green 44 but not the 10 lb. gold. Post some pictures if you decide to go ahead with it.

Does anyone have any photographs of the mount they made for the turbine?

H.Dale

My Feedback: (3)

What size servos are everyone using for the ailerons? The instructions for the Fox call for micro servos but I am wondering if that is too small for a turbine powered plane?

Thanks for any help.

Hal

David Gladwin

My latest project is a Wren 44 Gold powered sailplane. The machine arrived yesterday and is a Paritech DG303. Take off performance may be rather sluggish as the weight will be about 12 KG but with a glide angle of over 40:1 (on the real DG) when airborne it should have reasonable climb rate.This model is of truly superb construction and finish, by FAR the best I have ever seen, quite exquisite.

I will fly it first as a slope soarer and then install the 44, if that is just too sluggish a Supersport goes in. Plenty of room for fuel etc.,

Paritech are also doing the mouldings for the TomaHawk Hunter, as designed by Reto Senn, mine is due soon and after seeing the DG (and other Paritech products at JP) I have little doubt that this model will be of stunning quality, too.

Take a look at the Paritech web site for an amazing range of sailplanes, but delivery is very slow, 5 months for my DG but well worth the wait !

David G.

Jgwright

Hal

The servos I use in my small turbine flying wing are Futaba S3105.

David

Seems like it will be a bit on the heavy side for a 44. However once in the air the plane will build up speed and fly with very little thrust as the drag is so low. Will be interesting to see how you get on. It will be amazing with a SuperSport though!

John

JohnMac

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JohnMac

No it would not be too heavy for the 7lb Wren, it would be fine unless you want the Salto to perform like an F16? That arrangment will give it a .5 to 1 PW ratio.
Go for the Flapped version and use about 15 Degrees for take off and full crow for landing.
John

JohnMac

http://jettstreamuk.co.uk/mks-hv-servos.html
See HBL 6625 specs. These are used typically in F3F racing gliders that acheive jets speeds, and DS models that easily exceed jet speeds. They are used in several of my jets. Superb servos, very precise and accurate and well as tiny powerhouses.

John

JohnMac

I take it you have the 5 metre version? You are correct in your assertion that you have bought well, Paritech are top drawer.
I have had several of their gliders over the years going back to before the name Paritch emerged. Absolutely sensational performers. I hanker after the large DG303 but the Hunter will be next. Besides, I already have 14 Gliders.
John

Jgwright

John

Thanks for your various posts about servos for high performance gliders. I had never even heard of some of the makes before. I just bought some tiny high spec ones for the elevator of my new project. I was wondering if I was going to find anything that would be suitable. Keep on educating us!

John