Hi all,
My latest project the Ventus 6mtr flies, this one weighs in at a light 6kg and flies like a dream, even with the light 55grams/dmsq wing loading,
penetration in a fairly brisk wind was no problem. The flaps allow one to basically hover down into the very small slope landing zone seen in these photo's.
I await some launch sequence photo's from one of my flying buddies and will post these soon. Oh I forgot as part of a challange it was scratch built in 24hours of labour across 14 days ,not to be confused with 1 day. This is my 6th one out of my molds so the practice is starting to pay off.
Regards
Mike


Part 2 May 2011
This Nimbus 6mtr has has several good slope flights as well as being aerotowed, it flies well so was ideal as a test bed for a self launch system
the curved arm is made from ply-wood and is shaped to clear the prop as it unfolds, works well.
The Motor is a Turnigy 42-60 500kva , the prop a CAM 14x9.5 the speed controller a Turnigy thrust 70 amp and the Lipo a Turnigy 2200 5s, all reasonably priced items.
A test revealed 1100 watts and a 56amp load , the speed contoller and motor stay cool.
First flight was last sunday , into a 15km/h headwind the glider was airborn in about 20-30 mtrs and climbed out at about 45 degrees.
This ship weighs 8kgs so I was more than impressed.
One issue was at the start the motor pushes the nose onto the ground, but I just keep going on the grass until the speed built a little, then it was possible to lift the nose and run on the main gear, this was so short though as the wings AOA changed it lifted off.
I plan to do some more flight testing soon and fiqure the trim changes that
make for smoother flying.
cheers
Mike

Sweeet!!!

nice work.. great looking plane!

That is awesome! I'll take one.

NICE!!!, if i had one it would be electric

ed...

You could about sit on it and go for a ride.

Originally Posted by ED3

NICE!!!, if i had one it would be electric

ed...

Turbine!

Electric...no, turbine...no, mother nature...oh yeah!

turbine

electric

Hi all,
To all the guys who want to add power to it , with turbines and electrics etc , you are missing the point.It is a glider pure and simple flies just fine on the aircurrents.
cheers
Mike

Got any big gliders mate ?

Looks awesome !

Make me one Mike!
I promise only mother nature power.
Very nice.
Skies.
Jay.

You could probably sell a kazillion of them if you motorized it like this one (watch the video): http://www.stemmewest.com/pages/Stemme%20Vidos.htm
I would surely sell half my land to buy one! -- DC

Nice one Mike! And don't listen to all that silly guff about power: there's enough power out there on the slopes!

As promised a couple of flying pic's of the hurried maiden before the rain started. Most of the action being powered by adreneline.
Mike