What size high start for a Gentle Lady

[amike_321]

I am buying a built Gentle Lady with the pod for a cox motor. I prefer not to use the motor, for noise reasons. I would like to high start this plane. What size high start do I need for this model? 78" wingspan, weight somewhere between 18-25 oz. etc.

[tunabiker]

I spent a couple months learning to fly on a gentle lady and made the most progress using a high start instead of the club's winch. For sure a DynaFlite "Heavy Duty" works great...100' of 5/16 surgical tubing and about 300' of line. I got a NW Sailplanes "Standard" which is about the same, maybe a little heftier, but not much. It works great, too.

I pace both back about 70 steps (maybe 2.5' each) so stretch the rubber about twice its original length. Give the G/L a good pitch, flat or slightly up into the breeze and it will kite beautifully and fly right off the 'chute. I have been very happy with both of these high starts but like the latter one because of it flourescent red string and bright parachute (we have a lot of high weeds at our flying field).

Good luck.

Bill

[aeajr]

Sounds like this might be your first glider. Congratulations and welcome to a wonderful part of RC Flying.

The Dynaflite recommendation above is a good one. Some of the flyers at our field use this hi-start for Spirits and Gentle Ladies.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXE636&P=7

If you have a smaller field, or would like a practice launcher this up-start is a good one for your Gentle Lady.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXE638&P=7

Here is a great link for understanding hi-starts. I use this when I am explaining sailplanes to friends.
http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~learmont/HiStart.html

I have a Great Planes Spirit 2 meter. Similar in size and weight to a Gentle
Lady. htttp://www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma16.html

I have two hi-starts.

Practice hi-start/up-start

This one is a home made up-start with 25' of 7/16" latex tubing (1/16 wall) that I bought on e-bay. It is really stronger than what I need for this plane. I added 100 feet of pink mason's line that I bought at home depot. I made the parachute out of a pink golf hat. I use this one for practicing launches and landings. It would be better matched to the plane if the tubing was 5/16". I get a good but a little too powerful launch. This rubber is so strong that it has been used to launch 3 meter full house sailplanes with no problem.

I can get about 100-150' launch with this set-up. If there is a strong breeze, say 7 MPH, I add another 50 feet of line because I can get more of a kite effect and add 30-60 feet to my launch.

Big Hi-start

My main hi-start is from Northeast Sailplanes. It is their "Pinnacle Standard" model.
http://www.nesail.com/pinnacle.html

This Hi-Start has 100' of 1/2" rubber with a 3/32 wall. Again, this is really stronger than I need for this plane, but I bought it in anticipation of moving into larger planes later. This one can launch 3+ meter sailplanes with ease. It has 390 feet of hot pink line that is identical to the mason's line that I got at home depot. I get 400-500 launches with this one. I often approach the
launches that others get off of the club winches. The more experienced pilots can really zoom off the top of the launch with this hi-start.

Keep in mind that I have a huge field to work with. Here is a picture of the field. http://www.lisf.org/Pictures/29070035.jpg

Our field is about 800' by 1600' so I can lay out a 500' hi-start, pull back 100 feet and have room to work. For the larger planes, they pull my hi-start back close to 200 feet and really send the plane up.

Hope this is useful info.

For anyone who might be reading this who is interested in gliders/sailplanes but not flying them yet, you might find this thread of value:
http://lisf.proboards13.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&num=1070740602

[Jack Hyde]

I like a histart that produces pull = about 4 times the plane weight when stretched to about 350' from its relaxed length of 100'. Heavier works but the acceleration after release gets very high. For a 10 lb pull a Gentle Lady takes off with more than 5 G's.

[aeajr]

I took a fish scale to my hi-start line. 10 pounds is stronger than you realize. I determined that I have been launching my Spirit with about 12-14 pounds of pull of my hi-start and can just about hold the plane. It takes off like a rocket.

I think I read somewhere that 8 pounds of pull was recommended for the Spirit which is similar in weight and wing to the Gentle Lady.

My friend has the dynaflite with 5/16" tubing and at max pull I don't think he can even reaches 10 pounds of pull, but it launches his Spirit and mine very nicely, even when there is no wind.

I don't know if it would be good for a plane of more than 100" and about 4 pounds, but I never tried it.