I now have two electric planes. My first was an Aerobird which is a rudder/elevator/throttle plane, and then an Electrajet which is a delta wing type with elevator/aileron/throttle controls. I now want to go to a glider as my club has lots of glider pilots and has a competition once a month.

I am not going with a motor. The club has two winches and when they are not available, I want to learn how to use a hi-start. If I want to fly electric, I have two electrics now.

Here are the features I think I want.

1) Polyhedral wings - more stable

2) Minimum plane would have Rudder/Elevator/Spoilers, R/E/S.

3) I think I would prefer R/E/Ailerons/Flaps - spoiler would be great addition here but not required.

3) ARF or RTF without a transmitter. I have a Hitec Prism 7X seven channel computer radio. Here are its features:
http://www.flyrc.net/acreview/Prism%207x.htm

4) 2 Meter - Size required for the club events. Don't want to go much bigger than this.

If the plane were to have an interchangeable motor pod that could be removed to put on a pure glider nose, that would be a nice extra. I think I have seen motor pods that can be put on any glider using rubber bands. It was a motor on a pylon I think. Not sure how good it is, but I have seen it.

Here are the planes I am considering so far:

Great Planes Spirit ARF or RTF - R/E/S
http://www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma1045.html

Or

Multiplex Alpha Junior ARF - R/E/A/F plus optional Motor Nose and throttle

I am not looking for a serious competition plane, more of a sport 2 meter that I can learn on and enjoy for a several years while learn to thermal at our field. If I want to get serious about competition, I will get another glider in the future.

Do you have any experience, good or bad, which these planes?

What other planes would you suggest I consider?

The Lil Bird from Skybench will really make it easy for you. Laser cut and flies better than the Spirit.

http://www.skybench.com/slbird.html

AEAJR, check here, under Sport sailplanes, I think the MEFISTO would fit your bill : Esprit Models ,
or here : Art Hobby , take a look at the Boar, Velvia, and JK Thermic.

I have the Falcon from Esprit Models, although I did not buy it from them, but the quality of the plane was(is) first rate !

I don't know Art Hobby's sailplanes first hand, but have heard and read only good things about them, and the prices are hard to beat !

Michael

Interesting suggestions. Worth considering. Thanks!

I have received a few comments on teh Global Cirrus 2M.

It looks a lot like the spirit, but seems to have a larger tail.

Any opinions?

I think I am going to go with the Spirit. There are several of these in our club.

What hi-start would you recommend?

Although not ARF, I would recommed the Southern Sailplanes "T-Bird". It's a great 2m glider which you could use very successfully in comps but it's easy to fly and very very tough. It's mixed construction (beautiful FG fuse and foam/balsa wings). This model has been around for some time and is well proven. With different wing options you can have a glider that does it all. I have flown a T-bird (and the Ricochet) and can't say enough about them. The building is a little more challenging than a balsa model but the instructions are well done. The Foam-Rib wing works really well and the fuselage is the best I have seen on the market - ready to use straight from the box. Try these links (the prices are in Aussie dollars so are very good!).

http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~learmon...elections.html
http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~learmont/FRTBird.html

If you are after ailerons, a polyhedral wing will probably not be the best idea - it will tend to counteract the ailerons. By the way, don't use the ailerons on a Hi-start launch, they can yaw the model in the opposite direction. Use rudder to track straight until the release.

Well, I made my decison.

I just ordered the Spirit Select from Tower Hobbies. $139 RTF including radio and two servos. All I will have to do is cut in the spoilers and add a servo, which I have.

I won't use the AM radio, since I have a Hitec Prism 7X. I will switch the receiver and use my FM system.

Still, a RTF with servos installed for $139 is great. The other places I looked had the same package for $179-189. What a difference.

Friends,

I have been fighting with the spoiler tube of my Spirit for two days, trying to figure out how to get three wires from the wing root, through that tube, to the spoiler box where I want to mount a servo. I did not like going down to 30ga wire, even if it is likely to be adequate. There had to be another approach.

Here is what finally worked and here is the key.

I tried to put thorough three strands of 24 gauge telephone solid core, that I took out of a larger 6 strand cable. The insulation is thinner on these strands than if you buy 24 gauge wire. But they just wouldn't quite fit.

After trying all kinds of combos, I finally to two strands. To that I added a strand of 22 ga. enamel-coated magnet wire that I got from radio shack. The enamel is the insulation and is very thin. These three strands fit into the cable, but I just could not push them through.

Then it hit me. Lubrication. Friction inside the tube was killing me.

I used saddle soap as the lube. I took one of the strands I was going to use and built up some saddle soap on the first 6 inches of it than used it to slide inside the wing tube to lubricate the tube. Then I did the same thing with each strand. This got the tube well lubed and got the wires lubed as well.

Now, this bundle JUST FITS, but with the saddle soap I was able to push the three wires through the tube working from the wing root to the spoiler tray. It took two days to get the first wing wired and about 15 minutes to wire the second one.

I was so excited I had to get on-line and share the solution for anyone who might be working at this same problem.

Now I will cut an aileron extension cable to get the two ends I need and solder them to the wire that runs through the tube. A Y cable will connect the spoiler servos into the receiver.

I love it when a real head scratcher gets solved. There is a real feeling of satisfaction. I was almost ready to give up, but many people brought encouragement and tips that helped me work through the problem. The right combination of wires and lubrication is what made it work.

I hope this solution helps someone else.

Good luck aeajr, Spirit is a good design. Skybench (Ray Hayes) makes beautiful airplanes also. I think spoilers are the way to go, over flaps. I will be" spoiling" my Bird of Time arf. It's been too many years since I flew a two channel glider. I found the Graupner plastic spoilers from Hobby Lobby to be usable; a Hitec 55 will find its way into each wing of the BOT. Jim B LSF796

michpittsman

I didn't think the BOT came with spoilers. Are you saying you are going to add spoilers into the wings by cutting into the wing? Or, is this some kind of add-on spoiler that lays on top of the covering.

Do you have a link to the product you will be using?