EDFFanatic Thanks for that. It is what I was hoping to hear and rather suspected was so, but I wanted confirmation. I cannot repair the Ventus as it was badly smashed on a subsequent flight a week later after doing the repair. It was a cloudy, overcast day and all four of us lost sight of her - (grayish plane in a gray sky). She hit the earth a little behind us - at full bore. The RCVR died but the rest of the electronics was salvageable. I have ordered another in kit form - V2 - and will swap out the servos etc. I just found this forum and have gone through almost all the posts. Now I shall retrace and make notes on the ideas that appeal to me. Some good stuff here. Thanks all!!

Originally Posted by SuperCub Man

The last time I flew a sailplane it was a Free Flight and had a "pop-up" stab held down with a tiny rubber band with a homemade fuse shoved through it. I lit the fuse when launching on a High Start and if I caught a thermal the fuse would burn through the rubber band in about 15 min and the stab would pop up and the plane would flat spin down. Now I'm getting long in the tooth and have got rid of all my big gas jobs because I can't handle them anymore - and first off bought a Ventus V2 PNP. Set it up per the instructions for a glider in my JR 9303 manual with flaps on the throttle stick and throttle on the right slide switch. I crashed on the first flight because my buddy threw the plane at a very high angle which didn't give the motor time enough to bite and I couldn't recover fast enough when the nose dropped. She hit the ground and I pulled off motor but it just dropped the flaps while the prop beat itself to death!!
So my long winded question is - do all glider pilots program their transmitter sticks in this way? Can I leave the tranny stick setup the same as flying my scale Cub etc. or will I miss some of the sailplane niceties available in the sailplane mode. The 9303 is extremely programmable but I am not and fifty + years of flying RC creates some habits that are hard to break - like I fly mode 1!! 'Nuf said. Thanks!

I say find a different plane if this is your first sailplane. I have the Ventus and I rarely fly it. The wing loading is too high for thermal soaring. It's just ok for slope soaring. It is a pretty plane but that's about it. Very poor control response. I'll bet a lot of folks have crashed on maiden due to the tiny elevator and very sensitive CG requirements. Not a relaxing plane to fly IMHO.

I recommend a Radian Pro if you are experienced with RC but just starting with sailplanes. It's a full house glider, and there is also a good forum for it on RCG.

Thanks JumpySticks. I'm pretty stubborn about giving up on a plane and I did get one good flight out of it. It was nose heavy at first but it was better when I shifted the battery back an inch or so. My main problem was trying to set up my XTTR in Glider mode per the JR9303 manual. Goin' back to what I'm used to!! Anyway I have a Cularis to build and I'm going to convert my old Hobie Hawk to electric. As I said I have a Ventus kit coming but I may take your advise and put it aside and concentrate on the others. Just waiting for parts for all of them. (Haven't looked at the Hobie Hawk for over 30 years!!)

Well after some investigation and advise from the net I find that if I change the stick settings on the 9303 I'll lose a lot of the glider settings like crow etc. In glider mode the programming is set up with all kinds of cross programming and I must use the throttle stick as the flap/spoiler. Then the throttle can go a few different places, but the easiest is the right slider. Will have to try to get used to this if I want crow, reflex etc. Thanks for the advice anyway!
Got the Ventus replacement kit yesterday and shoved a 1/4" CF arrow shaft up its backside replacing the square CF rod supplied. Now she'll take a real beating!! Except for a broken elevator servo lead all electrics appear OK. Here we go again!!

SuperCub Man,

Good luck with the rebuilt Ventus. I had one and loved it. Unfortunately it came to an untimely end when the canopy flew off during flight, leading to an aft CG, leading to a crash. I have a video in the works that will show the Ventus in its glory doing slope soaring. Won't get done for awhile due to other priorities, but its gonna be great. In the meanwhile, here is another video I made which stars the Ventus:

Ventus Flying Colorado Ridge at Sunset (2 min 58 sec)

One thing I really loved about the Ventus was the very cool whoosh sound it made when it picked up speed.

In addition to JumpySticks recommendation of the Radian Pro, let me also suggest the FMS ASW-28. It does not have flaps, although they could easily be added, but it is one sweet flying plane with a more forgiving character in the air than the Ventus.

With Winter closing in it is hard to get excited about sailplanes right now. But Spring and Summer will come soon enough.

Wishing you many happy flights,

Jackson

Thanks for that Jackson. Really enjoy the sailplane experience. The Ventus is all rebuilt now - from the new kit - but I find the ESC has gone south so she is shelved until the new one arrives in a couple of weeks. Odd, all the flying surfaces work fine but the motor just gives out a repeating series of three beeps and doesn't rotate. I can't get into the ESC programming to fix it. The motor is OK as I've tested it on another ESC but this ESC does the same thing on other motors so I guess I've lost it. Wish there was some way to break it out of this loop!

SuperCubMan,

I have burned up my share of ESCs as well. Just buy bigger, better ones and this problem should go away.

Wishing you a successful remaiden and many happy flights.

Cheers,

Jackson

Has anyone had a problem with cooling? I just ran her up to check with the Watt Meter and the motor seemed to get quite warm in the short time it was running. It drew about 14-15A / The ESC I used for the test was an 18A Plush and it wasn't even warm. The prop and motor are stock and I'm waiting for the replacement ESC which is a 20A - but I may not need it. Anyone cut holes to cool the motor?

SuperCub Man,

I don't know what motor you are running but I personally like to select components that have plenty of "head room". If a plane call for 180 watts, I would use one capable of 250 watts. If I expect the amp draw on an ESC to be 18-25, I would use a 35 amp ESC. That way I am never pushing the components very hard.

You might want to consider a different motor.

Regards,

Jackson

Originally Posted by SuperCub Man

(Haven't looked at the Hobie Hawk for over 30 years!!)

Best to keep it that way...IMHO...

Originally Posted by rtbates

Best to keep it that way...IMHO...

Oh ye of little faith!! I did convert the Hobie Hawk and it flies like a dream!! It's just that I don't know much about electric motors (but I'm learning!) and the one I got wasn't strong enough and I burnt it out!! But in the only flight I had she was beautiful, if not very high. Also the shaft on the motor I bought was a little short and I couldn't get a good purchase on it with the prop adapter. Any way to lengthen these things? I don't see a variety of shaft lengths available.

SuperCub Man,

Check out HeadsUpRC.com They carry a nice variety of motors, ESCs and other components. Included in their inventory are motor shafts of various lengths and diameters. If you need a longer shaft, you can simply get one from them and replace your existing motor shaft.

Regards,

Jackson

Hobby King has a lot of pilots; which one do you guys have?

I got this one. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...lot_Brown.html

Fits perfectly. There are a couple of others similar but without the "old farts" hat!

which ones are similar their out of old farts