Art Hobby Evolution/Serenity

[edragon]

Is Evolution rugged? I've a Sig Riser 100, and I consider that to be pretty rugged. Evolution's weight is only 40% of Riser's. I'm worry that Evolution won't be able to tolerate my abuse. I often times overshoot the grass runway, and cause my plane to go into knee high grass. Sometimes, I undershoot the runway, and cause my plane to ground to a halt on concrete! I need a fairly rugged plane, and I like the style of Evolution. But is it tough enough?

[lincoln]

I don't know, but sometimes lighter is tougher. Speed is slower so there's less energy to dissipate by crunching things. Note that the Evolution has considerably less wing area.

I used to fly (and may again) fly an indoor FF event called EZB. If out of trim, these could sometimes survive a vertical dive to the floor. Didn't really matter from how high because they'd reach terminal velocity in almost no time. Terminal velocity might have been 3mph. Maybe 5.

[glidermang]

edragon:

Landing in knee-high grass is great! The grass catches the airplane like a hundred tiny gentle hands.

Landing on concrete, now that's tough on the bottom, that's for sure. I used to fly off a slab from an old house, and landing just a little too short left a lot of dings in my ships. It was a big incentive to catch my airplanes.

The ArtHobby airplane should do you fine. For the concrete, I suggest a skid where the pod contacts the ground. Not too much of one, I used to use hard rubber trim strips from an auto shop. For my hand launch gliders, I use vinyl electrical tape - cheap, light, streamlined, instantly renewable. If you land wings-level and straight, the ArtHobby airplane should do fine.

It used to be that all build articles had the same advice for first flights: "Go find a field of tall grass...." I only had such a field once in my life, but it was heaven while it lasted.

Yours, Greg

[edragon]

Well, it's true that high grass is good. But, the field is not only inhabited by grass; it is also home to weeds and sticky and thorny plants. I just hate walking into it and getting cut by 'em. The vegetation also leave behind sticky, glue-like stuff on my Riser. I try my best to stay out of 'em.

[krvedaa]

I send you these links of mine Serenity and my friends Evolution. Both planes
are plenty strong enough to certain abuse.

I smashed my Serenity in a rock wall in the mountain, a so called out landing
after loosing the lift on the hang. It was not beyond repair, and is being flown today. The left wing tip were damaged.

I would go for the Evolution if I had bought a Art Hobby 2,5M today, or maybe even the J.K Thermik, and made it with flaps.

You can see on the Evolution video, how lightly this glider land, (the piloting of course may be a factor) it's light weight means little mass when landing, and no damage, even if the terrain is full of little bushes and vegetation.

The Evolution have so nice long thin wings, and with ready flight weight of appox. 1200 grams, if built light, this include glassing the wingtips, and tail, than landing in mixed vegetation is no problem. If you do not glass the tail, I do shear your concerns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmu9SQ6WAWs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV3HEMCL-Aw

[edragon]

I think I'll pull da' trigger on the Evolution. There is nothing but good reviews about it. What value of watt/lb should I shoot for? Also, what is the purpose of flap on a glider like this?