thermaler

My Feedback: (46)

juggler-3310
Please start your own thread for the quest to ID your modified motor glider.
Thank You,
Joe

da Rock

Yes, juggler,
It would be better for all if you could cut/paste this into it's own thread. Moderators do not have the ability to move off topic posts, only delete them. It's not too hard for you to cut the text, start a new thread and paste the text into it.

juggler-3310

Thanks for the feedback NormF. You may be right - it does look very much like the Goldberg Comet Interceptor. As the moderator has suggested, I have started a separate post to inquire about the identity of this model. If anyone has any other comments, please post them there. Thank you.

juggler

daja

My first sailplane was a Craft Air Drifter II. It could be built as a 72 inch or 2M wing. It flew so well I continued with the Craft Air family of planes and built the Windrifter as well. Both planes were a real joy to fly. The Windrifter, with a 99 inch wing could stay in the air longer, but it took a little more effort managing it at low altitudes especially getting it on the ground on the first or second landing pass. The Drifter II was more maneuverable and easier to manage. That was in the mid 80’s and those planes are long gone.

Recently returning to the hobby, I have found that Craft Air is no longer in business but that Dynaflite makes some of their old products, but not these two sailplanes mentioned. So, my first purchase back was a Sig Riser 2M and it does fly well, but it is not the floater I remember [&o].

I wanted to attempt to recreate the Drifter II so I purchased a Dynaflite Piece O' Cake. It is a motor glider which has the same wing and tail assembly as the Drifter II. First, I extended the wing from 72 inch to 2m like I had on my first Drifter. Then I copied the bottom line of the fuselage from the motor glider plans and filled in a top line. This gave me a real close replica of the original Drifter design from the wing back, but I needed a nose. I laid out the drawing of the 2M Sig Riser, and the lines on the nose came out very close. I lowered the top line, from the wing to the nose (took off a ¼ inch) and it was a real good fit. The plane came out looking more streamline than the original Drifter but it looks and flies great. I have since purchased the Drifter II nib on ebay, but for now I won’t be building it. Cause, I really like flying my “Piece O Riser Drifter 2M� [8D].

HUNTERANDJEFF

Wow! I havent seen a drifter ll for well about 22years (that is when I crashed mine - unrepairable) this is the plane I learned to fly with. I had it for about 2 years and had a lot of fun with that plane. Mostly slope soaring. That plane took a lot of abuse was fairly tough and was very forgiving. It brings back alot of great memories. Since then, I have owned and still have a 4 meter ASW-22,
gentle lady, combat models F-16, Asw-15 (unknown manufacturer) Pilatus 3meter (unknown), Tower 2meter and a Bob Martin SR7. I fly mostly glow fuel now but I still love to slope soar especially with the ASW-22. I recently converted the SR7 to glow with a OS 40 because it was so difficult to fly on the slope. It tracked straight ahead well and when you dropped the nose it took off like a bullet! You had to have a lot of speed for your turns or you would tip stall all the way to the rocks below. I really liked the way it sailed straight ahead so I figured it would be a great candidate for glow. It is really pretty now and I am somewhat aprehensive to fly it for it looks like a really hot small pattern ship. Anyone have one of these? I do not have the original plans and I forgot where the C/G is. It is a tapered wing design.

juggler-3310

My first sailplane was also a Craft-Air Drifter II. It was a pleasure to fly, and when I discovered that they were available on Ebay I also purchased a kit a few years back. I have been flying the Drifter II almost every time that I visit the local flying field, and enjoy it as much as when I first started in R/C. See the attached photograph. My second sailplane was a Windrifter as well, and I currently own three variations of this sailplane: the traditional Windrifter, the Windrifter SD100, and the Butterfly II (by the way, the Butterfly II is still available from Dynaflite). Other sailplanes that I currently have are the Sailaire, the Spirit 100, and the Bird of Time. And i recently purchased a Superhawk.

juggler

soarhead-RCU

daja;
If you want a Windrifter real bad you can buy a Dynaflite Butterfly, The wing and the tail section are the same. They were great flying old birds. I had one back in the early 80s. Still have a Butterfly with a OS15 on it from the Craft Air days. I think I built it in around 83 or 84. Still fly it a couple of times a year. 4 ounces of fuel and you can fly for an hour most times. Great fliers but terrible kits, The wood in mine was either rock hard or like mush and the die crunch was just as bad. I remember I used the supplied balsa turbulator spars and through handeling they all cracked so had to uncover the wing and put spruce ones in and do it all over again, but was worth it!. It met its demise on a too breezy day on a 12v winch, solenoid was hanging up and didnt get the nose down in time and it literally blew up. Guess it happens to everybody at least once in their lifetime!!!!!!

Yep those were the days............
Bob

Electric 2X4
Riser
Gentle Lady
Gnome HLG
Gnome 2M
Gnome Open
Cumic
Cumic +
Mirage Open

erich44

Gliders Had back in the 80's but now gone (who knows where)

Gentle Lady::: 3 different ones, always took this one when going flying
Sig Riser:::::: cleaner built structure than Lady, didn't fly as good though
Metrick:::::::: good looking plane, total crash after 3 days of flying
Icarus::::::::: v-tail, flew kinda weird, probably me
Sagitta 900::: flew great , good speed range, fun to build
Ridge Rat::::: boxy slope soarer, never flew it
Windfree:::::: great looking plane, flew well
Paragon::::::: real great slow flier, a joy to build, very boxy
Flinger::::::::: hand launch flew ok
Bird of Time:: great looking, a little tougher to build (thin wing tips)
Windsong::::: one great plane, my favorite, along with GL
Pixy::::::::::: 2 meter version of windsong, loved it
Pivot:::::::::: Hand launch version of Windsong, pivoting wings
Pivot Plus:::: slightly longer wing than Pivot
Weird One::: scratch built canard 112" span, added split rudder, for brakes

Gliders (I have now)

Camano::::::: standard class version of Windsong, love it too
Mirage::::::::: great RE floater, penetrates reasonably well, a little harder to build
Olympic II::::: good floater too (RE) , plus looks great, fairly easy build
Challenger::::: very old fashioned ship, Big, added flaperons, a builders dream
Scooter:::::::: kinda of a slightly updated Sagitta 900, RES
Sagitta XC::::: scratch built except for ribs, BIG 170" span RES, very well built
Gentle Lady::: best one (GL) yet
Hous. Hawk::: Next to the Mirage and Camano, the best looking plane I got (not flown yet)



BUILT TO ALMOST 90% COMPLETION.... THAN GAVE AWAY

Gliders

Sailaire::: only needed covering, don't ask, really regret not finishing this one
Alpina::::: German kit with built wing, didn't like the build, looked great
Sloper:::: swept wing hottey, didn't cover, looked real fast

Charlie P

My first plane was a Vortex fallowed by.
Gentle Lady
Sig Samurai
Talon
Skeeter
Spirit 100
Whirlwind 36" Foamey
Visionary Foamey
Cirrus
Electro Streak
A House of Balsa 2 meter
Dove 2 meter
EZ Gilder
EZ Glider Electric
Fling HGL
BOT
and a few more that I don't remeber the names
Charlie

thermaler

My Feedback: (46)

This is what my Super Esprit used to look like. [:@]
It will look like my Grand Esprit in the second picture if the loan comes through for the Monokote.
The Pearl Yellow looks lighter than the heavy looking gold on the Super.

ejett

My Feedback: (4)

Sailplanes I've had. (Not counting kits waiting to be built). Spirit, Spectra, Spirit 100, Spirit Elite ARF, Spirit Elite kit version, Aquila (3), Aquila Grande, Skeeter, Illusion, Dove 2m, Alcyone 3m, Chuperosa, Oly III, Legend (2), Gambler +, Bird of Time ARF, Bird of Time kit version.

WO

I traded for and Aquila 100" and the first time out I crashed it and my friend is repairing it. Yesterday I crashed my Spirit 100 and the both of us are fixing it. If you don't fly you will not crash. I got a little big winch last May and it works very well as today we keep gliders in the air until the batteries were too low. Wo

daveosoar

Erich44! Didnt like the Alpina!! A classic sloper thats still in production (with a few mods) 20 years on. and beautifully constructed with only a couple of evenings work to get it into the air. Bought mine on a thurs., flew it on the Sunday - still flying it 2 years on.
Daveosoar.

huligan

2x6 (floater), dalmation lady (floater), wanderer (floater), explorer2m (floater), katie2 (aileron trainer), mini1 (aileron), 2 turbo (wingeron), sig samurai (wingeron), boomerang (elevon), combat wing xr (elevon)... i know there are more, but these are the ones i remember best.

daja

Soarhead,
Yea, I am interested in getting another Windrifter in the air and found someone on the forum selling a kit, so I picked it up. I don’t build from the kits, I just make a copy of the plans and the booklet and I use the parts as templates. The original kits are getting hard to come by so I don’t want to ruin it for future copying.

I am going to use your suggestion and I have also purchased a Dynaflite Butterfly for the wing kit. Being that they are available (and identical) I will be using this kit. The Windrifter elevator and rudder are different then the Butterfly so for assembling these parts I use the Windrifter plan. It turns out it can be quite an expensive build this way, but it will be fun to have another Windrifter in the air

I know in the era of cf and all the composites ya can’t just leave it alone, so I have added some cf to the tail area where my first Windrifter was really wimpy. I also changed out the hatch for a style that I prefer from the Sig Riser design. It snug’s up to the wing a little more. Guess I’m not a traditionalist. Just like the way it fly’s
Here is the work in progress.
daja

thermaler

My Feedback: (46)

2393 hits, 35 post and only 67 ballots?

dbarrym

My Feedback: (47)

Just visiting as I have been out of sailplanes for the last 7-8 years, but here goes...forgetting very many, I am sure, here are some I remember in somewhat of a chronological order from 1971 to 2000 or so:

Midwest Lil'T (single channel - my first RC model)
Ace High (so-so flyer, with .049 power pod)
Hobby Shack Spirit of 76 foamie (crap!!)
Foamie 1-26 (can't remember kit mfr, but first sloper)
Graupner Cumulus (caught my first thermal and 1 hour flight! OOS/lost in boomer soon after)
AF ASW-15 (fun flyer on the slope)
AF ASW-17
AF Malibu
AF Monterey
Windward (still a favorite)
Windfree (2 or 3)
MANY Hobie Hawks, still have 2 w/ 100" wing
Pierce Arrow (the 72" one)
Viking Mk. 2
Windrifter II (wing failed on 1st winch launch at '79 NATs)
Paragon (several)
Sagitta 900
Scratch built 2M (won Jr. 2M at '78 NATs with it)
Oly II (two - one was sponsored by Lee Renaud, won Mod Std. Sr. class at '79 NATs with it)
Aquila (many over the years)
Grand Esprit (pain to build, great to fly)
Astro-Jeff (scratch built)
Magnum 12
Std. Libelle
Aquila XL
(The BIG Pierce Aero Cross-country design..?)
2x (B. Watson's 3M floater from RCM plans...can't remember name, had flat center section and 1 side elevator control?)
Dodgson Maestro
Dodgson Pivot (fun HLG)
Scrach built Windlord (flew well but a pain to build, eliptical dihedral)
Adante (so-so, heavy)
Legend (mag review)
A bunch of my own design composite 2M Kestrels and 3M Peregrines
Saturn 3M (first all-composite model)
Alcyone
HOB 2x4 (excellent rudder rolls with this fun little guy)
All of the VS Sailplanes slopers - Rotor, Vmax, etc.
Gnome 2M (club 1-design contest, great flyer w/ballast)
Ridge Rat
Flinger HLC
2x Bridi Tercel HLC (great flyer, still have one)
MANY Gryphons (I flew often with the designer, Ron Neal). Still have two NIB kits. A classic!
Most of the Solent Sailplanes kits (Ridge Racer, Ridge Runner, etc)
Samurai
"Freedom" (Craft Air) sloper
Many Snipes
Many many scratch built Gigilos
Several Multiplex scale kits
Gerasis 2m Fox and 3.2 M L19
Hobby Club 4M Discus and ASW-20
Bruno Rihn 5M ASW-24
Too many VSS slopers over the years to count
2x "Sting" slope racers
2x Tragi slope racers/F3B

Though I mostly fly turbine jets now, I still dig out my original Aquila (the later version w/ glass fuse) and Windfree (coming up on 36 years old!) to fly when the mood strikes. Sailplanes were my first RC love and still seem the most pure expression of flight to me.

barry

thermaler

My Feedback: (46)

That is a list Barry, I understand the need for coming back to Sailplanes especially after doing 100-200 mph. I can't think of a better way to slow down than Sailplanes. It is how I slow down after 6 12-16 hour days of fast paced packing of Ford parts.
It is nice to see that the Magnum 12, Golden Eagle and Wanderer 99 owners have benn voting. Anybody else still flying one of these? Anyboy have a Magnum 12 whole or in pieces they would be willing to part with????



Joe

camdyson

Hmm...

Bridi Soar Birdy
Southern Sailplanes Sunbird (Aus. kit)
Viking - crap joiner system, folded
Pilot Slope 16 x 2
Obelisk sloper
BAe Hawk sloper
Ridge Rat
4m ASW 17 - all built up
Southern Sailplanes Richochet (Aus. kit)
Alpina
Hobie Hawk
Bird of Time x 2
Spectrum Moulded F3B
Southern Sailplanes Eclipse 3.5/4.1m (Aus. kit0
Dassel-copy 2m
Challenger 2m
Sig Riser
Skeeter
Flinger
Crysalis
Sagitta 900 (in progress..)
Scale WWII troop carrier glider (!)
1/2 Dozen Own Designs
plus all the ones I forget....

all time favourites:
1. Sunbird - first of the foam/glass models, loved it.
2. Eclipse 3.5/4.1m - first "full house" comp/XC model
3. Bird of Time - beautiful
4. Sagitta 900 - Perfection in R/E/S design?

Cam

Exporter

Since the 1960's when we flew Tow-Line Glider A-1 & A-2 (no radios ). I have had just the following RC Sailplanes. The Goldberg Gentle Lady and the Olympic II are my favorites.

Gentle Lady
Olympic II
Windfree (from plans)
"Fling" RTF

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

Astro Malibu
Astro Monterrey
Pennyplanes Titan 120
Pennyplanes Titan 120 modified to 16 foot span
Airtronics Aquila
Airtronics Sagitta 600
Airtronics Sagitta 900
Airtronics Sagitta XC
Dodgson Maestro Megan
Dodgson Vee-gilante
Dodgson Hijacker II
Dodgson Anthem
Dodgson Windsong
Dodgson Camano
Dodgson Pivot
Goldberg Gentle Lady
Goldberg Sophisticated Lady
Zagis
Mongo
Bird of Time
FVK Silent Dream
Impulse E

Plus I have a crapload of kits in the attic still NIB...some are the same as the above

My Favorite "take it out, lay in the chaise lounge and thermal away" glider was/is the Titan 120
My Favorite "speck it out everytime" glider is the Sagitta 900
My Favorite "where did you find that, I want one" glider is the V-gilante (applies to any of the Dodgson ships)

Don

thermaler

My Feedback: (46)

4554 hits, 40 replies and 91 votes, hummmmm.
Nice to see the list of sailplanes not in the VERY limited poll.
How many of you have been to this poll???


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6438803/tm.htm

Joe

anuthabubba

My Feedback: (102)

This is a test of memory.

Hobie Hawk - still have fuselage/tailgroup since mid '70s
Oly 99
Windward
Oly II - flying since mid '70s
Butterfly (CA) - needs repair, from mid '70s
Maestro Caliente
Aquila Grande
Sagitta 600 - have wings and damaged fuse
Freedom (CA)
Chrysalis HLG - flying
Osprey HLG - flying
P-51 balsa sloper
others?

Out back to build eventually:

Sagitta 900 w/fg fuse
2x Sag 600s
2x Oly IIs
Oly 650
BOT
Li'l Bird 2 HLG

Terry in LP

aerowoof

first one was a super questor followed by a balsa usa nomad,olympic 2,drifter 2,,sailaire,hob two-T,gentle lady,cumis plus,sagitta 900,sophisticated lady

jquid

Sagitta 600 W/Ailerons
Sagitta 600 W/ Poly
Gentle Lady (1st one in 78')
Sig Ninja (Still have)
GP Spectra (Working on)