House of Balsa 2x4?

[2motheus]

My son is looking at the $30 (@ Tower) HOB 2x4 as a first sailplane kit. He knows how to fly, but is interested in a plane of his own to build. I liked the idea based on the price, but it seems pretty heavy at 28 ounces. Our Chrysalis HLG is only around 10 and has the same area.

Anyone with experience with this plane?
The listed weight is with standard gear, but will we reduce more than a few ounces by using micro size stuff?
Any alternative to suggest?

Thank you,

Tim

[slopemeno]

I had the 2x6, and it flew alright, though it was a bit heavy. I would concentrate on keeping the tail light. I still have my plans and have thought about building a replacement with a balsa fuse rather than the stock ply one.

[glydr]

For a first build I'd recommend it without hesitation at $30... wish my LHS had them for that price!

[Lost_Dawg]

I am currently flying a HOB 2X4 as my first glider. I happened to get the kit for $10 from a guy who said he would probably never build it so I couldn't resist. I covered the wing and tail with solar film and painted the fuselage. I am using Futaba FP S33 servos, a RCD micro 535 rx and 4 alkaline AA dry cells in a Radio Shack battery holder. The plane weighs 20-1/4 oz. on my digital kitchen scale (which seems fairly accurate when I compared it to other things).


When I first finsihed the build it required a fair amount of nose weight to balance to the location on the plans and weighed 23 + oz.. I moved the rx up to stand vertical on its small end right behind the battery pack. I then moved the servos forward as far as I could. The dry cells weigh more than nicds will. This resulted in being able to remove most of the lead from the nose and a subsequent weight reduction to 20-1/4 oz. The plane is balanced 3/16" forward of the plans specified CG. The two hook is 3/16 in front of my ACTUAL CG. I don't like the nylon pushrods supplied in the kit because the seem to grow considerably in length on hot days thus changing the trim of the plane rather signigcantly. Wish I hadn't used them. The leading edges are cedar arrow shafts and the whold plane is fairly sturdy in construction.

Flying: I am pretty new to RC flying in general and even newer to glider flying. I belong to a good club with members who go to the Nats, build their own kevlar/carbon stuff, etc. My fellow club members were very polite when they first saw my plane but after test flying it and helping me get started they have come to be genuinely complimentary. They have said that they are surprised at how well it flies for such a small plane. One member who was giving me tips took my tx to show me how to make beter use of lift and after a couple of circles said: Man, I could speck this thing out! I have high start launched it the majority of the time (Northeast Sailplane Pinnacle two meter size) but tried winch launching last week with coaching from the experienced guys. The wings did not bend noticeably on launch and, of course, I was trying to take it easy. I now have at least 50 flights on the plane. That's cuz an awful lot of them are pretty short!LOL! Best flight so far? 9 minutes+ ( with a lot of coaching). Another new member of the club asked me just yesterday to let him know if I want to sell it because he would be interested. In short, I sure got my money's worth out of this plane! Is it the best plane out there? Of course not! But it flies OK and seems pretty sturdy compared to the Gentle Lady that is all built and will be my next plane.

Any more specific question? Just respond here or send a PM.

[glydr]

Great story Lost Dawg... makes me want to go out and find one for old time's sake.

[sixty9mustang]

I'll tell ya, it was my first plane, back in 1985. I still have the wing. I flew mine regularly off of a high start for 2 months, then switched to slope and flew it for over 2 years before the fuselage was too beat up to fly anymore.

It is strong, forgiving and predictable. Mine came in at 24 oz with full size gear of the day. My friends came in at 20 oz. I highly reccomend that you modify the elevator from the kit. The kit ony has the elevator on one side of the horizontal stab, it is fine for thermalling, but if you want to slope it or decide to hot dog it at all the full elevator will provide better handling. It wouldn't fly with a stock Wanderer, but it held it's own and taught me a lot about flying.

I even had a 4 minute + flight with the plane turned off (free flight), off of a high start. That was a long 4 minutes running after the plane. It made a perfect landing, we trimmed our planes in the beginning so they would glide hands off, then only used rudder to turn with to keep it inside the field we flew off of. Have been seriously thinking about building a new fuse for it.

I say go for it, you won't regret it.

Chip

[lincoln]

Might be good for slope. I'd suggest the 2X6 or some other somewhat larger span glider for thermal. My personal favorite for this sort of thing is the Oly 2, although it does cost more. Simple construction, though. Riser 2M is not bad and Sig lists it at $40. The first RC glider I ever built was a HOB 2T. Flew fairly well, but the t-tail was fragile.

[Blavatski]

For a first build I'd recommend it without hesitation at $30... wish my LHS had them for that price!
My husband and I flew the 2X6 as a park flyer with 25 ft rubber and 100 ft line for a typical 6 lb tension high start. Had a great time with it ~ for laid back soaring.

The 2X4 on the other hand, was not as good for working light lift, and was finally utilized with a power pod for a draggy climb to visability limit, and enjoy the descent resistance by thermals. :rolleyes: :D

[2motheus]

Thanks, all, for the feedback. I think we'll go ahead with it, try to keep it light, and not expect a thermal master. My son is just going on 9 so we need something smaller than a 2m for him to handle on his own. This should be something he can build (with me) and handle for launching, and it should fly good enough for what we need.

Happy 4th of July. We just got home from a thankful time with friends and neighbors.

Tim

[Hossfly72]

Hey Tim?

I don't recall if you mentioned the elevator on the 2x4 or not. If that's the plane I'm thinking of, it only had an elevator on one side. I changed it to both sides just to make things even. If this has already been brought up, forgive me. I've been driving for 8 hours today and stuck at a standstill on I-85 for two of them. I'm a little foggy right now.

Hoss


PS--- I also had about $2.50 in nickels for noseweight. It was Sunday and the hobbyshop was closed and I didn't have any lead.

[lincoln]

Thanks, all, for the feedback. I think we'll go ahead with it, try to keep it light, and not expect a thermal master. My son is just going on 9 so we need something smaller than a 2m for him to handle on his own. This should be something he can build (with me) and handle for launching, and it should fly good enough for what we need.

Happy 4th of July. We just got home from a thankful time with friends and neighbors.

Tim
Are you sure? I can handle a 3 meter easily, so someone 2/3 my height, or a little less than 4 feet tall, ought to be able to handle a 2 meter, if the fuselage is thin enough anyway.

Sounds like your son is lucky to have you doing this with him. (Assuming he likes it.)

[Lost_Dawg]

On the half width elevator: Trust me, it works just fine. You will have all the pitch control you need for thermal flying. I have had pop offs where I had vertical stall and was able to recover safely so I'm calling the one sided elevator adequate for the job. Slope? I don't know. Never tried that yet.

I can see what you're saying about a 9 year old. The 2X4 is much more compact. It makes it easy to handle without breaking. It's just more of a kid size plane. It's cheap, needs only one roll of covering and will be built before a kid loses interest. OTOH a 2 meter plane will almost certainly be a better flyer.

[2motheus]

Maiden flight was last evening.

We ended up covering with a single roll of Towerkote and trimming with electrical tape. We left out some of the wood on the tail boom, used mini servos as far forward as possible, and have the CG just behind the spar. It weighs less than 18 oz. We also made a full elevator, which comes off with the horizontal stab using two nylon screws.

My son did a significant part of the building and all the test flights. It glides well and slides forever on the snow. Now we need something other than Michigan gray weather.

Thank you all for the good advice. I think we'll get some good mileage out of this.

Tim

[lincoln]

Hey, nice job! Don't be too discouraged by the weather. I've caught thermals in the winter before. I've even caught thermals after sunset in the winter. However, that kind of thing is less common, I think, in winter than in summer. Looks like you have a nice place to fly, as long as you don't land it on the corn stalks.

[scaflock]

I agree with Lincoln. Good job! The 2x4 is a solid little glider and should last him for quite some time. If I remember right it was designed by Bob Martin and was in the same family as the 2x6, Two-Tee and the Pussycat. The Pussycat was one of my favorite 2 meter floaters and I built several of them before they were discontinued. I modified one with flaps and I would hover it in place at Torry Pines. Made a lot of people wonder.

Jeff

[lincoln]

Flaps on a Pussycat? Must have been able to stay up at negative airspeed! I remember that design, was definitely a floater.

[scaflock]

Yup... When the wind was up I'd throw in about 4-5 oz of ballast and if I dropped the flaps and pulled the nose up it would fly backwards for awhile. Not much control in that flight mode though. ;) Hummmm.... Now you got me thinking canard again. Where's Cpt Canardly when you need him?

Jeff