Pete Goldsmith is the designer/developer of the Mystique. Long time sailplane enthusiast who was probably inspired by some of the classics you guys are referencing.

I assure you there's nothing sneaky going on with the airfoil designation. Pete probably found the airfoil in a reference book with SD in the designation and went with it, or he simply remembered it as SD even though it's actually just an S. This reminds me of the Bf-109 vs. Me-109 naming controversy!

Oh, and they were on the water before we announced it. That way we're pretty sure of the release date.

Thanks, Dave! I wasn't implying anything "sneaky". I just recall that using airfoils can get complicated. As I understood that very old article it's only the designation printed on plans that can cause legal issues.

Originally Posted by JettPilot

SWEEEEEEEETTTTT !!!!!!

This is an awesome glider, nothing with this size and performance else even comes close for this price range.

I just put my order in with Horizon. Any estimates when it will be shipping ???

Mike

This performance? What performance? No one in thead has flown one yet except the guy who works for the company who is selling them..

Great to hear it is on the water Dave! I look forward to seeing one at Visalia. I will be doing an article for Liftzone at the Visalia event and I hope to get video and stills on it there. Mike Heer

Originally Posted by Dave Eichstedt

Pete Goldsmith is the designer/developer of the Mystique. Long time sailplane enthusiast who was probably inspired by some of the classics you guys are referencing.

I assure you there's nothing sneaky going on with the airfoil designation. Pete probably found the airfoil in a reference book with SD in the designation and went with it, or he simply remembered it as SD even though it's actually just an S. This reminds me of the Bf-109 vs. Me-109 naming controversy!

Oh, and they were on the water before we announced it. That way we're pretty sure of the release date.

The wings look as though they have a reasonable amount of construction time in them - do they use jigs & 1 person puts together a whole wing from start to finish, or is there some sort of 'assembly line' approach?

G2

I have a Calypso on back order as a gift to myself when I solo, but if I really get hooked on sailplanes, I'll probably end up with a Mystique from what I have read so far.

I enjoy my Radian so much, and am now looking for something a little more advanced that is bigger than 2M. This will fit my needs nicely. I can't wait to get one. I fly all kinds of RC, and I still enjoy a nice relaxing thermal hunt with a sail plane.

Excellent release Efilte!

Went flying my Radian Pro today and had a blast......but I am so looking forward to getting this beauty.

I was excited to see this plane announced as everyone else seems to be. But my excitement waned when I read about the full flying tail. I looked through the manual but didn't see any information about how the stab is actually attached. It looked like it was shown to be glued on but then talked about, so it can be removed.

My Cularis had a full flying tail and the stab flew at about 400 feet! That made for a high speed lawn dart. I vowed no more flying tails. I know its a very popular plane and three or four friends own them, but I will not get another Cularis even though I liked.

Originally Posted by libertyrider

I was excited to see this plane announced as everyone else seems to be. But my excitement waned when I read about the full flying tail. I looked through the manual but didn't see any information about how the stab is actually attached. It looked like it was shown to be glued on but then talked about, so it can be removed.

My Cularis had a full flying tail and the stab flew at about 400 feet! That made for a high speed lawn dart. I vowed no more flying tails. I know its a very popular plane and three or four friends own them, but I will not get another Cularis even though I liked.

Assuming the AMT was a system that had 2 tubes in the stab pieces that slid on to 2 wires, a fix back in the 70's I have seen for this on Sagitta 900's was as follows:

Glue the 2 tail-plane wires into one stab piece.

Then in the other stab piece cut the tube in the middle & insert a collett? [sp?] in the gap in the tube system.
The collett would have a small grub screw facing downwards in the underside of the stab.
Next you would slide the wires through the bell-crank system , slide the 'colletted' stab on to those wires, & then tighten the grub screw.
This held the whole stab system together.
You loosened the grub screw to disassemble the stabs.

For that to work though you needed to build it at the time of constructing the sailplane, & the bell-crank needed to be on a bearing in the fin such that it was independent of the 2 horizontal wires. [Not held in place by the pivot wire]

I am not sure if a retrofit into a Cularis stab is feasible. ie, how easy it is to get at the stab tubes & replace one with the collett/grub screw system.

Description may be a bit awry, not sure if 'collett' is the correct term, but I think you can get the idea.
G2

Another way to make a flying stab more secure is to simply glue the guide wire (i.e. not the pivot wire) into one half of the stab and bend it about two degrees forward or back in the horizontal plane. It doesn't add any weight, doesn't affect the alignment of the tail, doesn't require access to the internal structure, and worked for me over many hundreds of flights.

KEEPING THE H-STAB ON THE GLIDER


I had a Sagitta 600 with a removeable flying stab. One wire was fixed and was the pivot. The other was connected to the elevator control and floated thorugh a slot so you could move the stab. It looked very similar to this glider.

We would bend the wires so they were slightly out of parallel with each other. Never had a problem. This one looks like the Sagitta tail. So the slighly bent wire should work.

Some pilots used beeswax on the wires, which is a little sticky. You could easily take it apart but it would tend to stay put during the flight. Again, never saw one come off.

I think I saw in the instructions that they suggest using a glue stick which would be similar to the beeswax method. It would hold but not be permanent. you would slide the wire through, then put a little glue stick on it and slide it into the stab half.

The grub screw idea mentioned above would work too but I doubt it will be needed.

All my parts arrived today for electric setup. Got the suggested servos (Spektrum), 60A Eflite ESC and the Eflite Power 25.

Anybody have any experience with these Spektrum servos? I haven't used them previously. They certainly look the goods. Shall I use a seperate BEC with these on this glider?

Originally Posted by Grazer

All my parts arrived today for electric setup. Got the suggested servos (Spektrum), 60A Eflite ESC and the Eflite Power 25.

Anybody have any experience with these Spektrum servos? I haven't used them previously. They certainly look the goods. Shall I use a seperate BEC with these on this glider?

That depends on what BEC is included in the ESC, if any.

Did you get the 60-Amp Pro Switch-Mode BEC Brushless ESC by E-flite (EFLA1060) - $85
includes 5-volt Switch-Mode BEC circuit capable of 2.5-amp continuous current on any recommended input voltage


That should be PLENTY. No need for separate BEC.

Since we don't have these lovely birds in the air yet we can only speculate on handling but this is a relatively high performance design. For those making the jump straight from a Radian; it would be a good idea to get a little help for the first flights. It's a lot bigger, uses ailerons as the primary roll control, and should be a lot faster than a Radian. Those three things combined could prove a bit overwhelming for anyone who hasn't flown a similar sailplane.

If you are making the jump and don't have someone to help? It might be a good idea to first try one of the many fine, inexpensive, aileron trainers out there (Radian Pro, Calypso, etc.) before throwing the Mystique in the air.