robh,

I have an original Oly II with the counter balanced rudder. If I were building another, I would build without it. It's not needed. Most everything I've seen says build it with a straight hinge line.

If one built the solid tail out of very light c-grain, without the holes, and then finished only with sanding dealer, it would probably be a lot closer to built up weight.

Originally Posted by SHVentus

robh,

I have an original Oly II with the counter balanced rudder. If I were building another, I would build without it. It's not needed. Most everything I've seen says build it with a straight hinge line.

Thanks SHV, that's what I was thinking of doing. It's nice to hear corroboration of the idea. So you live in Hawaii eh? Nice place to have to fly!

And thanks Jared for the comment. You are correct, a little out of the nose won't make a huge difference in this size of aircraft, but I thought I'd see how close I can get it to pure sailplane-only weight. I know there will be some penalty for the e-gear...and your are correct, it looks great with transparent covering!

Cheers,

Rob

I think you should go with solid wood as the tail feathers on a self launching glider encounter a lot more turbulence under power. Learn to enjoy the extra weight of the e powered models because you'll get to fly in a lot more conditions with the extra ballast.

Originally Posted by Ray Hayes

Bummer, sorry our schedules were mixed. I returned Thursday night, Bill and I had a great time and both agreed to return to Max Patch. We had a group of people standing around the Surveyor"s Marker on top of Max discussing "which way is North", let us know if you determined "North". When I came down off the summit, my SUV's compass settled it. I took a Hi start too.

Bill will be posting his Videos on U-tube, I think he is 88Hawksnest. When I get caught up answering Sky Bench emails, I have 2 pics of Bill to post here. I took a very short movie of Bill launching his electric 2M Lil Bird and that was all the time I could take away from my first flying experience on the MAX. Will write some more later. I Love flying the MAX.

Thank you Doc Bell for the heads up on MAX Patch.

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
WWW.Skybench.com

Ray,

Glad you and Bill had a great time at the MAX. The day I had available to fly, the weather turned. Drizzle and low clouds covered most of the peaks, so I was grounded. I will definitely be back, so hopefully next time! Other than that, it was a great trip.

Allan

Originally Posted by SHVentus

robh,

I have an original Oly II with the counter balanced rudder. If I were building another, I would build without it. It's not needed. Most everything I've seen says build it with a straight hinge line.

If you change to a straight hinge line you will need more rudder deflection to get the same results and possibly get more drag. Just a thought.

Dave

My Webmaster has just put up a pick I took of Bill Grenoble flying his Electric
2M Lil /bird, in the back ground is a view worth seeing. Go to my Summer Newsletter, scroll to the bottom for the new pic and text, you likely will have to "refresh the page frame" to bring up the new post. Enjoy.

Enjoy the building season coming our way fast ....

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
WWW.Skybench.com

Originally Posted by Ray Hayes

My Webmaster has just put up a pick I took of Bill Grenoble flying his Electric
2M Lil /bird, in the back ground is a view worth seeing. Go to my Summer Newsletter, scroll to the bottom for the new pic and text, you likely will have to "refresh the page frame" to bring up the new post. Enjoy.

Enjoy the building season coming our way fast ....

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
WWW.Skybench.com

Very nice...I can just imagine what a Merlyn will look like flying there.

Who knows, maybe there will be two Merlyns flying the Max. I'll build my wings the same way my pages on my web describe "Adding Carbon to Spars". 060 carbon with 1/16" Bass Wood on top to fill the 1/8" deep spar notch in the ribs. .

Mine will be solid RED ...

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
WWW.Skybench.com

The last solid red plane I remember you having was your much flown Red 100" Big Bird. Bill Grenoble
PS We have a "club" ALES contest this Sunday in Carlisle, PA, I will fly one or so of my 4 Skybench electric birds. 2M, 100", 120", 132".

You may wonder how I got a 120" Big Bird. Back in about 2004, I got the idea for a wing. I had a pair of tips from a BOT ARF, so I built a pair of inboard sections to Ray's specs. I used a 10" chord 3014, , carbon on the spars, built the wingrod & incidence pin to fit the Big Bird fuse, put in very large spoilers, and mated the BOT ARF tips to the inboard sections. The BOT foil is pretty much flat bottomed, but it flew great. I built three of them and don't know who has the other two. Turning the wing/plane with the stock tail is a tad bit slow, but once you get the hang of flying it, is turns just fine. It will stand on a wingtip and thermal with the rest of the "birds". Bill G.
Picture of the wing.

Ray: Can I purchase A Full wing set with building plans for the OLYlll. If so what would be the total to ship to 96743-8226 Hawaii? Thanks Bob Hansen

Bill G....

Good to see you posting again...

Thank you Mr. "schrederman". Later, Bill

Originally Posted by Robert Hansen

Ray: Can I purchase A Full wing set with building plans for the OLYlll. If so what would be the total to ship to 96743-8226 Hawaii? Thanks Bob Hansen

Bob,

Sorry, Wing kits currently not available.

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
WWW.Skybench.com