I dusted off the covering this am and finally fixed the wing of my old Oly II. I used the information on the Groups to electrifly the old girl a few years ago. Newer, faster gliders and sporters took the top place in my hanger for a while and the Oly suffered a few years of neglect. The color scheme still looks like a clown - but I did at last replace the last of the 20 year old monokote.

On ~200 watts, she flies fine. A 1300mah 3s battery and a 28mm class outrunner turning a 10x6 prop gives sedate climbs and a sink rate that is pretty close to what is was off the highstart. Fine fall weather is here - cold mornings in the low 40's with afternoon highs in the mid 70's makes for excellent thermal conditions.

Gotta go fly it again -

Hey Jim,

Do you have any pictures of her? We'd love to see!

Cheers,

Rob

Yep -avatar is from when it was powered by a brushed motor on a pylon. I'll post up some in the am when light is better for taking digi pics.

ASSAN 2.4 Rx
Scorpion 35 amp ESC
1300-2500 mah battery
MPJet 2820/7 motor
2 old, HUGE servos
Battery sits under wing - change battery size w/o affecting C/G - but have to remove the wing. External safety plug to disconnect battery power between flights.

I had forgotten how s-l-o-w that big old glider flies, and turns. I had to really hold in a lot of rudder to get it to turn around. That's quite a change from the powered planes that I fly. I will be teaching my 7 year old how to fly on the OLY. I'll have plenty of time to help him guide it around.

HI Jim,

Yah, that sounds like the way my Riser and EZ 400 G fly. Plenty of time as you said. Great job on restoring the plane.

Bob in Seattle

Nice work Jim. It's nice to see that I'm not the only one with a resto-mod Oly II. In fact I just completed it and flew it for the first time this week. Mine was originally built by a friend in the mid `70's. He had it sitting around and looked at me one day and said "You need a sailplane." and gave it to me. He had stripped the coating from the left wing with the intention of installing spoilers, but never got around to doing it. We recovered the wing to match the existing color scheme. I'm running a Turnigy 3536C motor, Turnigy Plush 60A ESC, HS-65MG micro servos, 2250 mAh battery, and an 11x7 Aero-naut Cam carbon prop. The servos were relocated further back from stock and the plane balances perfectly, with no added weight. With 400+ watts this thing climbs like a rocket yet it is still pretty light and will float nicely. I'm looking forward to flying it again tomorrow.

-Ray

Nice resto fhpe77..

hi there from Toledo!

Two years ago I refit my 30 year old OLYII with an old Aveox 2526-3y inrunner with a Maxxon planetary drive, a 14 x 9.5 Cam Folder, a 3s lipo 2200 mah, and older CC PHX 45 ESC, two hs-475hb servos and a futaba pcm dial-a-crash rcvr, REM no spoilers, about 400 watts on fresh batteries.

Well today I had two 45 minute flights and landed the OLYII when my neck had had quite enough and the sun was setting. The OLYII is truly delightful in its e-powered reincarnation.

ciao -rjf

JimNM:

I remember your conversion, tempted me at the time! My old Oly II still has the old Kraft equipment in it-I laughed when you said something about the size of your servos! I think that the size of the Oly fuse was determined by the width of a Kraft brick! I should get mine back out, but right now I am flying my e-conversion of the old Aquila Grande and it is almost too slow for me! I will never forget, though, the sight of the Oly II floating about 20 feet over my head as the sun was setting, knowing I could circle several more times before my altitude was gone and I had to land. Great memories!

Steve

Great memories guys! I'm glad to know that the OLY II touched you guys too. It'll be with me for a long time . It has a reserved pa2rking spot in the hanger. The Oly was my 3rd plane. I bought it used back in '91 or '92.