green river rc

My Feedback: (2)

This summer I got into sailplanes. I stumbled upon a House of Balsa 2x6, and bought it cheep. Had a blast with it until one day I had a bad release and cracked it up pretty bad. So I replaced it with an Aspire. Well The first thing I noticed, was the unstable takeoffs.(with bungi high start.) I couldn't get nearly the altitude with it like I did with the 2x6. It didn't "float" as well either. Flight times are about half with the Aspire as were the 2x6. Is the 2x6 that much better plane, or it just me? There are 3 of us with 5 sailplanes all together. The Aspire comes in a distant 5th place far as flight performance goes. What am I doing wrong? None of the other planes are what you call "high performance". The best one is a C.G. Gentle Lady. Should I just get a Gentle Lady and give up on the Aspire? What do you think?

BruceDana

I had an Aspire.... and sold it. It flew OK, but nothing to write home about. I nevery really got the balance / trim worked out well; could have been an incidence problem too, but I never checked. The original price was right (I paid less than $80), so guess it was a good value for what I paid?

My biggest complaint would be, believe it or not, was the covering - I know some folks love Ultracote but in the warm/humid winters & hot/wet summers (hot cars during transport) here (in Florida) the stuff would not stay tight. Every flying weekend I had to get the heat gun and iron out and go to work, which is frustrating as the light wing construction is prone to twist with all that re-shrinking. My Monokote covered Sagitta lives under the same conditions and never had the same trouble.

My other complaint is the wing probably would not hold up very long to winch launching, even if you are timid on the pedal. On a few launches that wing looked stressed (large visible wrinkles in the upper wing covering as the wing flexed). This plane is much more suited for high-starts, IMO.

If you are willing to spend a little more, look out for some of the other 2M that have better quality and more features (i.e. full house). I picked up an NSP Omega 2M on sale for $209 last spring and paid $129 for a GP Spirit Elite Monokote, that I'm having lots of fun with.

R. Carver

We've seen a few new guys show up with them at our field. IMHO it's a pretty darn good plane (except for the wrinkly covering) once you get it trimmed out. It does like to be flown though, so don't expect it to be as "floaty" as a Gentle Lady or 2x6. It will just kind of mush around and be unresponsive to the controls if you fly too slow.
I've only seen one blow up on the winch, but only after the guy had been zooming it like a composite ship all afternoon. Pretty entertaining
Make sure there's no warps in the wing, put the C.G. right at the rear of the bottom spar, and put the towhook 1/8" ahead of the C.G.

Ollie

A properly adjusted and flown Aspire will do four to five minutes off a standard length histart without lift. For best results the plane must be properly tuned. The wings must be warp free, the CG adjusted to the pilots skill level, the tow hook adjusted for maximum launch height, the control throws adjusted to the pilot's skill level and the decalage adjusted to the best glide speed. These planes are not appliances that you can take out of a box, use the factory recommended setup and blame the poor results on the product. See:
http://www.b2streamlines.com/Trimming.html
BTW, the author of this article holds 17 national championships.

green river rc

My Feedback: (2)

That is a very good artical. I have 2 questions. 1) What is decalage? 2) What is Mr. Agnew talking about when he talks about "dive test?"

rctt

My Feedback: (1)

I've had one for 2 years now and love it /You Just



have to get pass the wrinklely covering though /
My 429.00 DP Extra 330L arf and 200.00 Balsa Nova Both have been a misery / Its just the Ultra coat ! Most of the arf manutactures are using it . Why ? I just can't fathom.The stuff
is crap IMO.
Like Ollie said you have to get it set properly and she will make some long flights / I put a TD 049 fixed on wing on mine with a 2 oz. tank and can get to 700 to 800 feet WHERE thermals are mor abundent on good days /
Have had many 30 min to 1 hour flights !
Good flin RCTT

Ollie

Decalage is the angle between the wing chord line and the horizontal tail chord line. The location of the CG determines the pitch stability. The decalage determines the trimmed flight speed for a given CG location. The dive test is a way of determining the amount of pitch stability. If you put the model in a dive and neutralize the controls a model with pitch stability will pull out of the dive by itself. The quicker it pulls out the more pitch stability and the slower it pulls out by itself, the less the pitch stability. If it doesn't pull out or tucks under the CG is too far back for safety. As the CG is moved aft, the controls get more sensitive and the model reacts to lift more clearly. As the controls become too sensitive, the control throws should be reduced. An overly stable model will fly right through light lift without giving much of an indication. For this reason the model should be adjusted with the most aft CG that the pilots skill can comfortably handle. The decalage adjustment determines the trimmed (hands off) air speed. The decalage or elevator trim needs to be adjusted in still air for maximum duration. If the elevator trim is much off the geometric center then the wing should be shimmed until the elevator trim can be returned to geometric center for that airspeed (duration in still air).

green river rc

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks Ollie! Your a big help!

Terror Dactyl

I dont know how the sun is in Ohio, but here in S. Texas I leave my Aspire in my van at work, then at lunch go to a field close and practice hand tossing it. I have actually caught some good lift, but have not had to reshrink it as I set the shrink when I bought the plane.

I use andquite a few of my friends use Ultracote, with great result, I will say that if you dont put a little stretch on the covering when you install it you will get some wrinkles.

I will say also that there are a lot of folks that are tired of monokote as it is not as good as it used to be. I wonder how many things have gone down hill since they were taken over by Great Planes/Hobbico, never mind, wait to see what they do to Supertige.

Take care Jim

rctt

My Feedback: (1)

When my aspire came in it was a wrenkled mess !
I too shrunk it tight, and for the most part it hasn't wrenkled back too much .
BUT a different story for the balsa nova and DP Extra
I have gone over many times to find more wrenkles /
Maybe I can get some of that new wenkle cream the old ladys
use >>>>>>>???
Rarely had trouble with monocoat ! Imo 20+ years in the hobby /

Rctt In 90%+ COOL Ohio // 23 days already this year!

Terror Dactyl

Sorry to hear about the covering problems, I use Ultracote as the base cover on all my birds now. I will say that as trim monokote can be installed a little easier but it tends to bubble easier over time.

I have been doing the model thing for twelve years now and dont care for the way Monokote is now. I feel that the application of Ultracote gives a better look (U looks like paint and M looks like plastic, IMHO) and is easier to conform over complex compound curves.

It is ultimately back to the old deal of Ford or Chevy.

Take care Jim

Cerberus

It's a bit late to reply. But then I just finished an Aspire for the wife. I've gotten maybe 15 flights on it. It flies very well indeed ! I shimmed the Le of the Stab 1/16" up when I assembled it . Moved everything as far forward as possible. It took , 2 0z to balance at the center of the recommended range . It does need to fly a bit faster than a GL or even a Spirit , but not overly so.
As mentioned the covering does tend to wrinkle , but what the heck . As far as winch launching..... It works fine ! My winch is a 6v ford with winch Doc's "Real Balls" Run on 12v . We launch Heras , Emeralds ,Graphites, etc... right down to GL's and Aspires .
It's usually not the planes strength that kills it , It's the foot of the winch operator all the best, John

caf2461

My Feedback: (6)

I used up all my weights in the front of my Aspire also. Anybody have any ideas on how to build one without 2-3 oz of nose weight?

Cerberus

Actually, I think less than 2 oz is pretty good to get it at the center of the CG range I expect that the CG range is more than a bit conservative as it's basically a Starter ship.
As short as the nose is on most of these ships 2-4 oz isn,t all that remarkable . After the wife bashes the Aspire for a while , I'm going to recover it , make a set of built up tailfeather ,and add spoilers . Can't see why they dont add them in the first place .
Imean after all , This thing did cost $79.95
All the best , John