Hi, what's the better sailplane for a beginner? I want a kit I can build myself and actually built an Olympic 650 when I was in high school with no trouble. I never learned to fly it though as it was destroyed. Now, I want to build a new plane and this time learn to fly it. I live near th coast and have plenty of ocean ridge lift available and I currently don't have much interest in thermal flying. Are either of these planes good for ridge lift? Are there other kits I should be considering?

Also, what sort of radio should I buy?

Thanks for your input!

Either one is an excellent choice, as you know the 650 is smaller, so if transporting is an issue you may want to consider it. Otherwise, in my opinion, the bigger the better (within reason of course!) Both are good thermalers and slope/ridge flyers.

Radios..... waaay to many choices out there... I'll let some others chime in on this topic.

Rick

Hi, The Oly 2 and 650, while being most excellent trainers in their own right, they will do great on light lift days, i.e. 10 kts and under, anything over you will have to ballast and landings are going to be a challenge, I'm not saying you can't you can its just that they don't penetrate to well.. I would suggest taking a look at Ray Hayes Bird series the 2 meter Lil Bird and the 100 " Big Bird...they have a different airfoil S3014 and you will not have to worry about the Wind, They will laugh and any stinkin wind, will fly in anything unballasted and if you ballast them up they just fly faster, no worries about penetration in any conditions what so ever.....they build easy too.....kit quality is excellent..... you can find em here WWW.SKYBENCH.COM



Best Regards,



Wylie S

Oly II will be the better choice if you have the room to build, store, and transport it. It's no harder to build and bigger is better.

Both will fly in ridge lift, but check the landing areas at your locak slope. It may be that everybody there is flying foamies for a reason. Look around at what the locals are flying on your slope and do what they recommend.

As far as radios go you can start cheap with whatever is handy for the time being. If you someday decide to fly a 14 channel scale monster bird then you can worry about a better radio.

Oly II
you'll get more support (build logs, tips, pics) from fellow forum members...go with the skybench kits

Wow! The Lil Bird plane is beautiful. I have to admit that no small part of my attraction to this hobby is how beautiful sail planes are. The Lil Bird and Big Bird planes are stunning. But the Oly II and 650 are easy on the eye too.

I do have storage and transportation issues, so let me refine my question accordingly in a new thread: Lil Bird or Oly 650?

you might also consider that a two piece 100" wing is easier to store/transport than a 2m /79" wing.

Originally Posted by ciurpita

you might also consider that a two piece 100" wing is easier to store/transport than a 2m /79" wing.

Very true, but the 650 has detachable wingtips, so the longest part is actually the fuselage. Not familiar with the Lil Bird's wing features, so someone please share their comments!

BTW all the planes listed are no-go for me because I need rubber banded wings due to my flying skills and windy conditions on virtually every trip to the flying field

I guess I'm not following you, Arukum. The 650 has rubber banded wings, and regardless of the model, you could make it rubber banded. BTW, I modded my 650 with a bolt on wing, and will do likewise with my Paragon. Done properly, there's little difference between rubber bands and nylon bolts. The nylon bolts will shear if you clip a wingtip, preventing damage.

Rick

Good advice Rick. Just good advice. I have all 3 Oly planes as well as the Bird planes and they ALL FLY AWSOME! The bird planes fly better in high wind even without ballast as the airfoil is more suited, the Olylll has the s3014 airfoil and is heavy enough to stand on its own in big winds. None is better than the other as far as my flying expectations.
Bob