Introduction

Hello again! Before I get into the meat of this article I would like to apologize for falling behind in my duties as an editor for the Liftzone. Unfortunately, due to this wonderful economy coupled with the decline of many of the technology based industries I became one of the many design engineers here in Southern California out of work for about three months. Argh! My constant searching for work really took most of my free time and I just could not find the time to write, fly or even practice for the upcoming IHLGF that I had entered. My eventual standing in the IHLGF was hard evidence that if you don't practice you really don't have a chance at flying at a competent level. Anyway, all is good now and I am working again so hopefully I can get back on track with this column as well as a kit review that is also grossly past due.

International Handlaunch Glider Festival

Well the IHLGF has come and gone and all seemed to have a great time even though the weather did not cooperate. I had attended the IHLGF as a spectator a few times but this was to be my first time attending as a competitor. Both days, pilots awoke to find wet streets and dark looming clouds. A good deal of the tasks both days were flown in very wet misty air which made getting your times very interesting. However, the odd weather did manage to keep the predominant winds away for most of the contest. This crazy weather did not stop most of the top pilots from receiving their maxes in most of their rounds. I was amazed to see just how high Oleg and many others can launch. I was dumfounded at times. Unfortunately, due to not having time to practice, my launches were about half as high as most of the competitors I was flying with. In fact Nowell Siegal timed for me a few rounds when my timer was unavailable and kept telling me to stop launching like a girl. I have to admit it my flying was pretty sad. Oleg should have taken me behind a trailer and shot me so as not to give his Taboo XL such a bad spot in the standings. Now I know what to expect for next year and can put more time in training. This years IHLGF marked the ten-year anniversary that Torrey Pines Gulls has held the contest. Boy have things changed in the last ten years. We have gone from balsa wood built up Skeeters and Vertigos to the all-composite models we are flying today. A good deal of this leap in technology can be attributed to the work of Mark Drela and his students at MIT. In fact Torrey Pines Gulls awarded Mark a trophy to show the flying communities appreciation for the work he has done to better our sport.

Mark accepting trophy and hat.

Since there have been quite a few articles in magazines regarding the IHLGF, its participants and ultimate standings, I thought I would focus on some of the unique planes that were flown. As expected there were quite a few XP3's, Encores, Photons, Super Gee's and Taboos. In addition to the top five there were quite a few models that were home built designs or designs from other countries that are definitely worth noting. I have to say, it was a real treat to see so many DLG's that were scratch built. With the recent introduction of Phil Barnes video "vacuum Bagging made easy", hopefully more will get the urge to try out their own designs and ideas. I should really take this time to thank Phil for taking the time to make the video as well as responding to every question posted on the DLG yahoo group. Just by watching the video, you can see how busy he must be building wings, but he is very gracious and always takes the time to lend a hand and input his thoughts when questions are asked. This video is a wealth of information for anyone thinking that they may want to give vacuum bagging a try. Just by viewing this video, you will learn many of the little tricks of the trade that would normally take a good deal of time to learn through mistakes and hard work. It is by far the most comprehensive source of information of composite construction and well worth much more then the price it is being offered. For those interested in the video, please read George Voss's past column on the video as he gets into more detail.

Vacuum Bagging Made easy (best $ you'll ever spend)

Since wind was not much of an issue this year, there were quite a few Polys and two servo models being flown, and I would have to say that the majority of them were Photons and Super Gees. However, Nowell Siegal had some Polys of his own design that flew quite well. He calls it the Revolution and the Flying surfaces are bagged glass with an all carbon fuselage. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the exact specifications from Nowell.

Revolution Polyhedral DLG's Nowell and his Kevlar winged Revolution

By far the most interesting poly at the event was the one flown by Bill Watson. Just when you thought you have seen everything something drastically different comes along. There are very few things in aviation that are asymmetrical but Bill has come up with another. If you look at the photos below, his plane just looks wrong or possibly that there is a distortion in the photo. I can assure you the photo is correct. The first instinct is to say that thing won't work. Well many can attest that it does, and it works quite well. One side of the wing has a wider chord and shorter span while the other side has exactly the opposite. The reason for this is that Bill has offset the fuselage towards the outside of the launch circle to gain more inertia. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the exact specs but I did speak with Bill and he said he made it just to test the idea and did not have plans to fly it in the contest. It flew so well that he managed to make the top ten fly off flying this oddity for the majority of the rounds.

Asymmetric wing DLG Trick photography? Nope!

As expected, four servo Aileron DLG's were the most common models being flown. However, there were a few six servo "full House" models that were flown to great success. Most notably would be Joe Wurts "molded" Maple Leaf Designs Encore.

The molded Encore was very unique and not built in the traditional way being hollow molded. Pink foam cores are CNC milled to the exact shape of the wing. From what Don Peters told me, the wing mold is laid up with the composites as usual and then a CNC milled core is placed on top of the lay-up. The core is only in the shape of either the upper or lower surface with the other side remaining flat. When the core is installed the flat surface protrudes past the upper surface of the mold a bit. After curing, both wing halves (top and bottom) are trimmed flush with the mold surface using a hotwire. The wings are then bonded together. This method has all of the accuracy of a molded wing and the durability and lightness of a traditional vacuum bagged wing. It was quite ingenious and a definite example of thinking outside of the box. Great Job Don!

Joe's molded encore

"The Kiwis"

Since the IHLGF is the end all be all of DLG contests, it attracts flyers from all over the country as well as the world. A rowdy bunch of three hailed from New Zealand. They brought with them two unique models worth noting. Chris Tank and Craig Dawson both flew Ravens (mentioned in my previous column) and Peter Williams flew his own design. I have to say these guys were a great bunch of people to hang around with and if their personalities are any indication of how the people are in New Zealand than I need to visit someday. Peters model, the "Weredog" has a very interesting wing layup. If you look close, it is almost the exact opposite of the XP3 with the addition of some fiberglass. The Weredogs's wing layup is divided into thirds with the front 1/3rd comprising of glass, the second carbon uni and the final 1/3rd is Kevlar. The wing is quite light and all of the fabrics butt up to one another and do not overlap just as in the XP3. With the rear 1/3rd being the Kevlar, it allows for the use of integrated Kevlar hinges. The tail surfaces are very thin Vacuum bagged Balsa. The fuselage is all Kevlar with a carbon boom much similar to and just as stout as the Allegro boom. The wing uses the AG455, 46 & 47 combo found on many competition DLG's and the plane comes in around 10.4 oz ready to fly. I was so impressed with the Weredog that I spoke to Peter regarding availability here in the states. We spoke for a bit and he and I started kicking around the idea of having me import the Weredog and offer it for sale via the Web. This idea is still in its infancy and I am unable to even speculate as to the price or availability as of yet, but I will let everyone know the outcome soon. If anyone is interested please feel free to drop me an email and I will respond with any updated information.

Peter Williams and his Weredog! Peter revved up for one heck of a launch! Craig Dawson (Raven), Chris Tank (Raven) & Peter Williams Weredog)

In addition to the Kiwis, there was a group of two from Brazil. Mario-Sergio De Lucca had a model of his own design ironically named the "No Name". It was an all Kevlar four servo model with a wing that also uses the very popular AG455, 46 and 47 combo. The No Name weighs in at 10.05 oz ready to fly. Unfortunately, Mario only makes the gliders for himself and currently does not have plans to offer it commercially.

Mario and his NoName

Hoopes Designs - Arius

If an award were to be given for the best-looking DLG, than as far as I am concerned it would have gone to Tom Hoopes. His Arius is a fresh change from the mass of brown sun tarnished Kevlar wings. The first thought that came to mind was how much weight was added to get such a beautiful finish. When tom told me his all up weight was 9.25 oz I was very impressed. Tom has been flying various iterations of this design for many years now which explains its deviation from the standard Drela airfoils. His wing starts with a MH32 and transitions to a SD7003 at the tip. Another great feature of the wing is that it is mainly glass with bits of carbon and just a strip of Kevlar tow to reinforce the leading edge. His glass lay-up has been optimized to achieve such incredible weights and strength. This was good news to me as I am more of a proponent for glass rather than Kevlar and proves that when a Glass lay-up is optimized it can be made just as light and strong as the typical Kevlar wing. While Tom's Arius is not available to the masses, he does have a business of supplying custom pre made wiring harnesses for DLG's, Thermal Duration Ships and all the way up to mammoth size scale ships. I have used his harnesses and can attest to their quality and ease of use. Feel free to contact him when the time comes to wire up your next new toy!

Tom and his Arius

Glitch free receiver - No way!

Berg 5 with 9 channel expander

Each day during the lunch breaks, pilots were treated to some product demonstrations ranging from free flight models to electric helicopters. One product demonstration that caught everyone's eye was the one done by Don Richmond and Arthur Markiewicz to show that the new Berg 5 receiver has the ability to distinguish which signal to allow when two transmitters are transmitting on the same channel. To demonstrate this, Arthur flew a DLG and mid flight Don turned on another transmitter and held in a left turn signal. What happened was nothing short of amazing. Actually, there was not a noticeable change at all when the transmitter was turned on. Arthur only mentioned that the plane felt a bit sluggish due to the receiver processing the information. The receiver processes the incoming signal and distinguishes which is not the one it was receiving earlier and rejects it. The receiver spends a bit of time finding the bad signal and the result is that at first the servos move a bit slower than usual, but the plane is completely controllable and is still a much better alternative than a plane that is doomed to crash. I spoke with John Weaver of RC Direct regarding his receiver and he mentioned that this phenomenon was discovered accidentally when bench testing the receivers and it is just a welcomed side affect to their technology of filtering since the receiver is single conversion. I have acquired one of these receivers and plan on testing it in my next DLG.

John Weaver of RC Direct manning the booth

Here are links to companies mentioned in this article:

Mark Drela's Supergee info

Taboo XL

XP3

Maple leaf designs Encore

Raven Mk2: liftzone column

Vacuum bagging made easy review by George Voss

Article and contact info for Hoopes designs

Berg 5 info at RC Direct

Well that's it for this month. Next column I will have some information regarding a DLG club project that is nearing completion as well as an update to the Weredog's availability.

Thanks again and good lift!