Can someone ID this? A distributor/manufacturer link would be great and a user thread would be wonderful.

Picked it up at a local swap based on looks (OK, price too) primarily. Got a Radian so was looking for more of a 'pure sailplane'. Not enough experience in this arena to know what I have and forgot to ask the seller.

Everything but the tail works OK. It uses an enclosed rod system and the tail mechanism sticks after down elevator. It frees up without too much trouble but the wire inside bows when trying to give it up elevator so it's not reliable in flight, untested yet of course, until I figure this out. Housing is glued in place so I'd like to know a bit more before I dive in.

The fuse is a plastic-like shell that appears to be a hassle to work inside.

I've never had a tail like this so it's completely new territory in terms of function, setup, and trim. I don't want to screw it up (more).

Also wondering about a tow or hi-start hook. The seller was using it for a sloper so no launch mechanism is attached.

I am pretty sure I've seen this advertised as a Discus on an Asian website. It bares a slight resemblance to the Schempp Hirth Discus in that it's a t-tail with a swept back wing and a scale-like fuse.

Originally Posted by terry.cx

I am pretty sure I've seen this advertised as a Discus on an Asian website. It bares a slight resemblance to the Schempp Hirth Discus in that it's a t-tail with a swept back wing and a scale-like fuse.

Discus of some sort seems plausible. The planform looks almost right.
This one has removable polyhedral balsa wings with blunt tips and does not have the fine pointed tip the original has. I found this one on the Hobby Lobby site, close appearance but foam and not quite right.

I tried to browse through the NE Sailplanes site but the photos were not loading for some reason. The only Discus on their site certainly is not right.

Originally Posted by flydiver

(deleted)Everything but the tail works OK. It uses an enclosed rod system and the tail mechanism sticks after down elevator. It frees up without too much trouble but the wire inside bows when trying to give it up elevator so it's not reliable in flight, untested yet of course, until I figure this out. Housing is glued in place so I'd like to know a bit more before I dive in.

The fuse is a plastic-like shell that appears to be a hassle to work inside.

I've never had a tail like this so it's completely new territory in terms of function, setup, and trim. I don't want to screw it up (more). (deleted)

If you look closely at the second picture you can see a mark where the tailplane hinge mechanism rubs on the vertical fin. I would remove the screw that the hinge pivots on and lift the hinge clear of the fin. Then try the elevator controls and look for flex (inside wire bows), if there is less or no flex then install a small thin flat washer between the hinge mechanism and the vertical fin (on both sides of the fin) (spread the hinge mechanism a little first). Don't over tighten the pivot screw, it should be tight enough that the elevator won't shift around, but it should pivot (up, and down) freely.

Hope this helps, it's the first thing I would try.
Ken

I took the elevator apart. With a bit of judicious bending and smoothing of the aluminum rocker that holds the elevator I managed to free it up and it's working OK now. Not a lot of movement but I assume since it's the whole surface moving I don't need much. Getting that pivot screw tuned right is critical as you suggested.

Have done a lot of (Google) searching with various combination of Discus +RC +sailplane +Asia +China. Looked at a lot of Discus sailplanes but most are larger and none are this particular model. Wingspan on this is about 5 feet.

Got it out for a maiden yesterday-just a few simple tosses. Flies/floats pretty good. Does not like a sharp turn-stalls and goes right on the wing tip. Spent some time with the iron putting in some washout. One wing was level and the other had a tad of wash in. Hopefully this will improve.

Continue to search for ID without success. Anyone?

What's the wingspan?

Wingspan is 4'8" > 1.4M.
Weight = 430g with a 100g RX battery in it.

The fuse does appear to be fiberglass after all. There is a noticeable weave to the structure inside.

I think that's an early Thermo Passer (or very similar) made in China and not a bad floater. I've seen it on EBay a couple times.

Searches on [Thermo Passer] pull up a lot of hit, many in China, but most of them without the Discus fuse, no T-tail (usually V-tail), and mostly straight/pointy wings. [Thermo Glider] does no better.

If you happen to get a brain jog with a closer match please let me know.

It may be a JR model from the Czech Republic.

That is as close as I've gotten:
Mini Discus

Looks about right but is foam. Babel Fish won't translate Czech so I went through the categories as best I could. One other balsa plane looked similar but was larger and had ailerons.