ghost rider 425

HELLO, BOYS

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT,I LOVE SCALE SAILPLANES.AFTER WATCHING THE VIDEOS FROM RADIO CARBON ART I DECIDED I NEEDED TO HAVE ONE.MY EXPERIENCE IN R/C HAS BEEN STRICTLY IN GLOW WHITH THE LAST FEW MONTHS INTO GLIDERS MOSTLY.I HAVE BEEN LAUNCHING MY SIG RISER 100 BY HI-START NO PROBLEM.....FINDING A THERMAL ON THE OTHER HAND...AH I WON'T GO THIER.

MY QUESTIN IS I WANT TO BUY ASW-28 3 METER FROM ICARE-RC SINCE I LIVE 20 MINUTES FrOM HIM.READING THE DESRIPTION IT SAID THAT IT COULD FLY FROM A HI-START AND THAT IT THERMALS WELL OVER FLAT GROUND.IS THIS TRUE?ALSO WHAT KIND OF FLYING SHOULD I EXPECT FROM A SCALE SHIP?ARE THEY DIFFICULT TO FLY?WOULD YOU GUYS SUGGEST THE 4 METER INSTEAD?IS 19 ONZES A LOT FOR WING LOADING.

AS YOU SEE I HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS,TO MUCH FOR THIS THREAD.

THANKS

TFLG

There is a LARGE difference from a SIG Riser to any scale sailplane. They are FAR more difficult to fly. Launching them is much harder due to the weight. It's better to use a power winch or aero-tow. Hi-starts need to be pretty strong to pull up scale birds especially big-uns. You don't hold a scale plane when lauching. You set them on the ground and let the winch or tow plane pull them up. If you were to try hand lauching it would probably result in an immediate stall and crash.

When they say "thermal's well" they are meaning, as compared to other scale sailplanes. Scale sailplanes are harder to thermal than sport planes like your Riser. They are far heavier and so come down faster. They fly faster too. So you need to keep the speed up and will need to circle quite fast as compared to your current plane.

A 19 ounce wing loading is quite heavy for a thermal plane although it's not terribly heavy for a scale plane especially a big one. Most thermal duration planes will have a wing loading under 10 oz/sqft. So you can see that 19 is about double a typical TD plane.

Hard to beat a scale plane for looks but they aren't good second planes. You might want to try some kind of "sorta scale" plane first like a Multiplex Flamingo.

With scale sailplanes (and most others too) Bigger is better. Big planes fly better. But the cost goes up exponentially and you need more room to land, launch and to store them.

TFLG

ghost rider 425

THANKS,TFLG

I AM DOING TO TAKE YOUR ADVICE AND LOOK FOR SOMETHING EASIER TO FLY.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BUILT UP KITS(BALSA)AS COMPARED TO THE HIGHER END SUCH AS COMPOSITES ECT...?

TFLG

I like the composites. They come out of the box straight and most of the good ones are nice and light. I hate the price but it beats spending weeks building a box-o-sticks that may or may not fly well when done. It all depends on the quality of the build and the quality of the wood in the kit as to how it's gonna fly when done. And once you factor in the cost of building materials and covering many wood kits can cost as much as the low end composite kits. It's hard to beat the way a good composite planes flies. The biggest drawback is the cost. The higher end planes are well over $1000.00 when you factor in the cost of the electronics. Unless you love gluing sticks or you are on a tight budget ARFs are very hard to beat nowdays. If you can afford it (and can fly decent) then get yourself a nice moldie (hera etc) and have a ball!

TFLG

papermache

My Feedback: (35)

Ghost rider,
If you want a built-up kit, the Great Planes Spirit 100 would be a good one. It comes with a choice of a polyhedral RES setup, or a "full house" wing with flaps & ailerons. I built the latter and it flies very well. It was a quick build, too.
As an alternative, Dynaflite just came out with a Bird of Time ARF. I built my BOT and it's my favorite sailplane. I just love how it looks in the air. It will teach you how to thermal a larger, faster ship. Esprit models also has a BOT ARF with ailerons, flaps and an electric option. The price still isn't up to TFLG's composites. No slam on composites, but if I could afford one, I'd buy 3 good kits instead.
papermache

spirit pilot

Have been reading a lot about the B.O.T. here. Who makes a quality kit for this plane? Also Paul, I see your in the A.V. I'm new to Palmdale and have no idea where to go to fly. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
S.P.

bjaffee

SP - Do you fly slope at all? You should try it if you are in Palmdale, as there are two great slope sites, Parker Mountain and Vincent Mountain, over in Acton, which is right by you.