Favorite Gliders You Own and Why?

[Kristjan]

Hi,

What are favorite 2 or 3 TD gliders you own and why?

For me:

Oly 650 - durable, easy build, excellent flyer, glider that got me to begin many years back

Sovereign from Laser Arts - excellent kit, V-tail, superior flyer, can take a very hard launching

Windfree - long tapered high aspect wing looks nice, another excellent flyer

I have a lot of gliders, all R/E and all wooden but I find I fly these three the most.

What about you?

Best wishes,
-Kristjan

[becsta]

Alula: It's tiny, nimble, easy to launch, the best value for money, and is a sweet flyer for both light and heavy sloping/thermalling days.

Icon: It's big, expensive, graceful, has clean lines, looks amazing both on the ground and in the air, and flies effortlessly too :)

[Svenna]

RaceM F3B with x-tail ... Very agile and stiff.. Can be used in f3j , f3j and f3f... Superb! :)

[rogerflies]

Lovesong. Does everything a sailplane is supposed to do. Has no bad habits or surprises. Looks great, even after fifteen+ years of flying.

Roger

[kzimmerm]

Lovesong. Does everything a sailplane is supposed to do. Has no bad habits or surprises. Looks great, even after fifteen+ years of flying.

Roger


Roger; I will have to agree! I've never owned one but I built one for a good friend of mine... now how is that for a friendship. I had the opportunity to fly his several times and had a blast with it. In fact the first time I flew it I was up for over 45 minutes!

My next most favorite was the Pelican designed by Mike Popescu. I knew more about they way that plane flew than any other.

Kurt

[capt soap]

Tekoa Shadow because it was my first open ship, and had good thermal performance.
My Monarch hlg, Best flying hlg of the 90's,,,it would float forever!!!

[rdwoebke]

For me it is my Allegro Lite 2M.

* It fits in a rifle case. Makes it handy for all kinds of transport and since it lives in this case (when not being flown) I always have all of its parts together

* Mine is electric or high start. Makes it more versatile.

Ryah

[Thermaler]

Nostalgia, RES - Aritronics Super Esprit, 14' of thermal eating fun and
I am one of two owners still flying them.
And it can be seen better WAY UP THERE!

First Sailplane - Toss up between my Oly II+ and my Wanderer

2 Meter - Skybench Osprey, sure do miss it.
Anyone got a set of plans so I can build a fuse for
the wings I still have?

TD - Falcon 880's (I have 2 now) only because I just got a Waco Merlin
and have yet to fly it,Thanks Dave

Just Farting Around - Wanderer 99, flies just like it's lil' brother but the wing
is stronger and it can be seen better WAY UP THERE!

Warm to my heart - Soarcraft Magnum 12, Craft Air Leo, the Vikings and the Golden Eagle, Grand Esprit and the Aquilas, Legion Air 140 and last but not least Ralvin Nebula

[jofo1]

Supra Carbon version. A +3m that flies like a DLG, by far the best behaved airplane I have flown, thermals like crazy at 64oz, launches full pedal with no worries, and I can load it up and it will fly an f3f course and hold its own. The easiest 3m to hand catch and launch I have flown as well. Very versatile, strong, and extremely efficient design. And it just looks cool with the pod and pylon as well. jwf

[rdwoebke]

2 Meter - Skybench Osprey, sure do miss it.
Anyone got a set of plans so I can build a fuse for
the wings I still have?


I have a 2 meter Osprey too.... I broke my original fuselage a few times and tossed it out, then found a Dynaflight Apogee fuselage literally in the trash... Found it mated the Osprey pretty well.

Ryan

[OVSS Boss]

Airtronics Grand Esprit, Insanity, Any big scaley set up right.

[schrederman]

Houston Hawk... Yardbird... Yeah, so I'm a bit prejudiced... and Legionair... and Grand Esprit...

Jack

[neonbutterfly]

my fav's......bass flyer (60" span elec sailplane, designed by my flying buddy gene sellers and myself), allegro and bubble dancer.....that's about it!!!!....

bass flyer is great for popping in the car for a short field....with a bruhsless motor it has a lot of get up and go.....a fine soairing ship....if i say so myself...

the allegro and the bubble dancer are great RES planes.....they can handle all types of wind conditions and are a joy to fly....thanks mark drela!!!!!

Bob :D

[Kristjan]

Hi,

12 posts and 4 mentions of Esprit (3 Grand and 1 Super).

I see these are again being kitted to be available late in 2007:

Grand Esprit (http://www.aerosphereonline.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=A&Product_Code=204&Category_Code=Unlimited)

Best Wishes,
-Kristjan

[erich]

Windsong: Flew well, and was a joy to watch, flew it so much it just finally fell apart from all those landings

Gentle Lady: almost the same as the Windsong, only thing it couldn't do was fly in any kind of wind. Would play catch with this one for hours. Could slope it on a moles burrow.




Mirage: Haven't flown this plane much compared to other two, but am starting to fall in love for the third time.


Honorable mentions (pretty great planes too): Sagitta 900 (good at everything), Windfree (beautiful to look at), Oly II (great allaround), Paragon (good floater), Scooter (only flown a few times), Challenger (a great build).

Green Air

erich

[OVSS Boss]

Kristjan,
For it's time and even now, it's performance is and was rather superior to many ships.
It has a very good LD for a flat bottom airfoiled ship, and though not a snap to build, it is a very good flier. My friend Jerry Shape won the Toledo show with a new one he built in a month from scratch, he is a good builder. It is a bit more modern, mono joiner, servo driven spoilers, direct drive V-tial, carbon boom, and a much stronger wing (but that is relative to the 70's wing only). I have the first one he built and it is a really good ship, and this is the third one I have had.
Check the pics, they are great ships.

Marc

[regis]

Graupner Clou: Mid ’60 German kit. Inspiration for many American designs - compare to Wander and Windfree. Relatively expensive at that time so didn’t get much exposure - but definitely superior ( I have proof :D ).

Omega 3M: My first full-house (and after many years with only R&E gliders) brought me up-to-date (no easy task). Beautiful, strong (yet light) , well behaved and was not pricey. Still love to fly them. BTW: I need a left wing panel - will make it worth your while.

[Cebola]

My favorite model is my own design name Frigate, 2 years old.

The design was inspired on the Frigate bird, that I admire a lot.

Frigate is very stable and a very good thermalist model.


Hope you like it.

Cebola
Brazil

[aeajr]

Thermal Dancer - 3.1M bagged wing from www.polecataero.com

Easy Glider Electric - Brushless upgrade - very convenient and flies great!

Great Planes Spirit 2M RES - This is the one that got me started

If I can stretch it to four I will add a Sagitta 600 2M RES. Flies great!

[lincoln]

Sagitta 600 -had some contest success, fun to fly
Oly 2 -my students catch on when they try one, and it's very relaxing to fly. I leaned on an Oly 650, should have learned on Oly 2.
Easy Glider end up flying this one a lot. How can they make such a floppy material perform well?

honorable mentions:
Io -a bit tricky at first but landed very well and I won a bit with it, but it was fragile. Mine was 3 channels, mechanical mixing of rudder and ailerons on one servo, spoilers. Did not pitch with spoiler application, I guess because of the v tail. Launched well.

Chrysalis -way obsolete, and not as stiff as I'd like, but fun to fly

Skeeter - well, I'd tell you it flew ok, but then I'd have to listen to everyone else claim I'm lying or at least wrong. Don't have enough electrons in the universe for that one. Not terribly easy to climb out, but once up flew around very nicely and not hard to stay up.

I have a couple of new gliders to set up and hope to have new favorites soon.

[tinkrerpilot]

My favorite model is my own design name Frigate, 2 years old.

The design was inspired on the Frigate bird, that I admire a lot.

Frigate is very stable and a very good thermalist model.


Hope you like it.

Cebola
Brazil

Cebola,

Do you have plans for this model. Would like to get them if you do. Very beautiful model. Does it fly as good as it looks? Love the inner wing panel taper that you have built into it.

Neonbutterfly.

Saw the Bass Flyer on the clubs website. Any idea where to get plans for it? Would make a great model to just throw in the car for those quick flights at the park.

tink

[kzimmerm]

Cebola,

Do you have plans for this model. Would like to get them if you do. Very beautiful model. Does it fly as good as it looks? Love the inner wing panel taper that you have built into it.

Neonbutterfly.

Saw the Bass Flyer on the clubs website. Any idea where to get plans for it? Would make a great model to just throw in the car for those quick flights at the park.

tink


Neonbutterfly - aka Bob is a good friend of mine. The Bass flyer is his own design and I'm quite sure he has a set of plans available.

Kurt

[Cebola]

Cebola,

Do you have plans for this model. Would like to get them if you do. Very beautiful model. Does it fly as good as it looks? Love the inner wing panel taper that you have built into it.


tink


Hello Tinkrerpilot


Frigate is a very good thermalist, and a very docile model.

The design concept, was make a wing inspired on the Frigate bird, in fact I think , despite the wing airfoil, there are many other things that can affect the performance and a good glide ratio.

Model geometry, and cleans and sleek lines is , in my opinion, a very important aspect, also the quality of the building process, and the method and accuracy of the model overall.

Well, Frigate has a very complicated wing, whit curve spars, and false ribs, only on the upper surface of wing.

The leading edge is made from many strips of 1/16 balsa laminated in curve, also the wing spar reinforced whit carbon fiber.

About the fuse, I am not happy, whit carbon fiber boom, is to ugly, and non connected whit the wing design.

Maybe, another fuse, made in rolled balsa boom will be at my plans.

About Frigate plans, yes I had, but, whit a drawing hand made.

This makes the laser cut for the ribs almost impossible, but I can make a copy.

In case , if you like to build the Frigate, just let me know emailing me on:

acarlosarq@gmail.com


Regards


Cebola
Brazil

[Captain Canardly]

OLY 650< clean clear build! I've even seen one fly with square leading edges! She was an armour plated honey, retired her at 6 yrs. old, took 118 lbs to break the wing- just inboard of poly breaks,
Bird of Time- She could cover lots of territory and a simple build
My canard designs- last one down from slope flying, almost as much territorial ownership as BoTime!
Johnny

[ejett]

Bird of Time is the one I have had the most fun with.

Also spent a lot of time in the air with a Spectra, with no motor (sorta Spirit I called it).

I have also spent a lot of time flying my two 100" Aquilas.

I'm building some different stuff now - Skybird and Oly III. Maybe they'll become my favorite. Came really close to getting the Challenger bug this year at Woodcrafters. Marc really did a nice job with his Grand Esprit at Woodcrafters.

I guess my favorite at any point in time is the one I'm flying at the moment.

EJ

[Phoebusflyer]

Windfree! She thermals so easily, and is a joy to fly!

[Gil Gauger]

Entry level- Goldberg Sophisticated Lady, a Gentle Lady with the stronger Electra wing and a T tail, launches well, thermals well, penetrates better than you might think, and lands at a snails pace if you fly with the CG back as far as you can stand.

Full house- I fly a 15 year old Grand Esteem that nothing I have tried since has bettered. (Unless going outrageously fast is your only desire.)

Reality- Any thing in the air is better than sitting at home.

[Andy W]

Ava.

Just because..
..a

[TexasThermalKing]

Sagitta 900 simple fun, taught several friends to fly it, even my wife. Had great fun at contests, even against the early moldies like Muller Comets . Easy to fix when the pilot brain switched off.

[Norm Furutani]

[QUOTE=regis]Graupner Clou: Mid ’60 German kit. Inspiration for many American designs - compare to Wander and Windfree. Relatively expensive at that time so didn’t get much exposure - but definitely superior ( I have proof :D ).

The Clou was a great sailplane! Came with two sets of wings - I think I still might have the short wing parts. It was the only glider I could do lazy eights with. Typical German kit- lots of pieces but they all fit. A nice kit, nice glider.

Thanks for the memory, because that's all that's left of it!

- Norm

[Daddio]

Oh man, now I just have to fix my Metrick. I don't remember who made the kit, but she was my first real project. She really does soar. The Metrick is a 2-meter ship from the 80's. Very clean (sorry no pic) lines, full-flying horizontal stab. I covered her all white. Oh yeah! I sculpted the wingtips with a little downward scoop. I had no idea what it would actually do, but she flew great!
I got her back from the ol' homestead a few years back, and showed my son how to launch, saying, "now, don't do THIS." She came off the bungee with just enough airspeed to recover from her trajectory parallel to the ground and make one turn back into the field. Except for that tetherball pole I didn't see.
After waht, eight years now, in the box...
IT'S TIME!
PS: here's the instructions: http://manuals.hobbico.com/top/rc29-metrick-manual.pdf

Spiral up!
D²

[kzimmerm]

Metrick was a Top Flight kit. It was designed by Scott Richardson. When I first saw it I thought I was looking at an Aquila. I got to speak with Scott at the WRAM show about a gazillion years ago when it was first release and mentioned to him how it resembled the Aquila. Never had the opportunity to fly one.

Sooo.. how's that for waking up a few old brain cells?

Kurt