Spririt 100 advanced wing

[oxcart400]

I'm just about to put the covering on a spirit 100 w/ advanced wing.
Any trimming, lauching, flying tips?
I hear a bit about the spirit, but not the spirit 100 with ailerons and flaps.

Thanks,

Chris

[petefly58]

I have a Spirit 100 with advanced wing ( ailerons and flaps ) which was built in 1994-95. It handles very nicely and you won't have any problem flying yours if you are confident with a 3 channel Spirit 2 meter or similar glider. Before you launch your Spirit 100, make sure it is balanced fore and aft at the CG and laterally. You should do a few hand glides to make sure it flies properly. One thing to check is that the wing joiner boxes are wrapped with thread or kevlar. If you followed the instructions, you have already done this. This step is a must in order that the wing will be able to withstand stresses put on it by the winch. Another area to beef up is the rear wing bolt mounting assembly. In a hard landing, these tend to tear apart. Some plywood reinforcement under the balsa sheeting would help here. On launch, I always found my Spirit 100 to be very stable, using about 15 degrees of flap. You must tap the pedal and constantly monitor wing stress, this is not a composite plane and is not as strong as one, but you can get a decent launch. If you have a lot of sailplane experience, fine, but if you don't, try to get someone experienced to help you with your first few flights. This plane is a fair amount of work to build, and it is no fun to damage it during the first few flights. Follow the plans in setting up your plane and you'll do fine. I did deviate from the plans in one respect, however. On the advice of experienced pilots in my club, I used 2 flap servos placed in the wing instead of the one servo in the fuselage arrangement as shown. I have been very happy with this modification and would recommend it. Good luck with your Spirit!!!

Pete

[John_R_C]

I did as Pete above; however, I also added the carbon fiber to the spars per plan recommendations during building as the plane was built for the club winch.

One thing you might want to do that I did was to enlarge the 1/16" top plywood covering at the wing root. Mine are triangular shape and extend from the trailing edge flap area to 6" outboard of the root rib at the leading edge.

JRC :o