Steady on with hacking up more balsa and basswood. Finally sorted out the battery fitment and it's tight but works. Building sailplanes helped here where stuffing 3 lbs of sausage into a 1 lb case is pretty much the rule. Radio bits are also in after thinking about how that was going to happen. Tail hold down is a little odd as wanted the rubber bands to not be bearing on the covering. I put the front peg inside the last bay of the fuselage with a carbon fibre rod. Currently working on hatch hold downs. I didn't really want two hatches but it had to to go that way. I could have made one hatch but was concerned about taking out the bottom cross member which is in a lot of compression holding the shape of the fuselage and it's widest point. Onward today with more shop time.

Still slogging away. Decided on a couple changes as didn't know if I had enough rudder area so I cut out new vertical stab bits and made it bigger. I also didn't like the spindly pylon mount so I cobbled up a more standard one. Bare bones (no covering) weight so far with power plant, 2 HS65 servos and 1300 mah 3S lipo is 16 oz. Wing loading of 8 oz/sq.ft needs to be met for SAM competition which comes out to 19 oz AUW so it'll be close.

Hacking away bit by bit each day making progress in leaps and bounds. No hurry, I'm retired and have gobs of time to do nothing. Covering will be Polyspan and dope, polyspan is in the post and I have Brodak's nitrate and butyrate dope in the shop. The bolt on nose section will allow for switching to an engine setup if I should decide to go that route. It's possible she could get a glow .15 for SAM Glow class competiton, we'll see. Already eyeing up next plane...hmmmmm

Good day to work in shop with 30 kt winds and 40° temperature, so I fired up the heaters and had at it. Horizontal stab is basically done after figuring out how the put the elevator in. Elevator on one side works well with old timers as you really don't use them a lot except for climbing to keep the nose down. Still have to sort out the vertical fin and rudder which I might do tomorrow. She's coming along nicely I think.

Making progress by hacking away a little bit everyday. The balsa from National Balsa is outstanding stuff and make the work a bit easier. In my old age I don't built as well as I once did and managed to bugger up the pylon, so a new one was cut on the bandsaw. While i was at it I decided to go back the the original wing mounting system instead of the Holman supplied parts. I'm also debating with myself on the covering still. I am leaning heavily towards using Polyspan and dope for something different and to give the old timey look.

Stared on a Lou Garami 1941 Strato Streak 52 build . She is a bit different as most of the old timers I've built have been the large antiques and this is a little guy. Think I've settled on a Hacker 480 size motor with a 18 amp ESC amp. She'll probably be a rocket but that's OK with me. There's some interesting engineering ahead converting this to radio control from a free flight design and brain is at full throttle.

Maiden went very well indeed. She flew right of the bench with no trim needed. CG at 55% is spot on and despite her size and ungainly looking dihedral she'll turn on a dime. The .32 size motor is just right giving a stately climb that's no too fast but not slow. Even with the cool whether for first flight she caught some lift and did the 'going up thing' but coming in at 8.5 oz./sq.ft. wing loading it isn't surprising. Couple that with the 14" cord grant X-10 airfoil she just floats on and on.

Only taking about 2 1/2 years to complete, my LRB is ready to fly. Retiring then moving to Delaware took a chunk of the time up,then I had t reestablish my shop to working order and get my butt in gear to finish her. Weather will hold up the maiden now unless we get a break which does happen once in a while

The Electra 2 maiden went exceedingly well with her flying spot on right off the bench. Despite the slightly heavy weight she has the stuff that good sailplanes are made of. Climb out with the Powerline 1025 is about 2200 fpm which is spot on for my application in ALES flying. After goofing around a bit I found some nice lift and let her ride it out and she did it in grand style. CG is right on the money @ 102 mm and all the bits work very well indeed. Second flight was about 30 minutes after a relight at 75 foot from the goofing part mentioned. She has good visibility at altitude and it steady as anything. I think I'll keep her. See attached odd photos from build.

Got two days off and got some stuff done on the new toy. Fuselage is done and the wing setup will be up soon. Pretty much standard assembly proceedings after dry fitting the parts to determine CG Servos are at rear of canopy opening, ESC slammed all the way forward behind the motor which required soldering motor plugs on in reverse and 1300 maH 7c 3S TP lipo as far forward as it can co and I'll still need about 2 oz. in the nose. Some pics attached to laugh at....Continue Reading

Checkin' this chicken over some more and dry fitted the main bits together to see how she looks. Finish is good but not the shiny waxed 26 coats of hand rubbed street rod with a big block blown Chevy engine sticking out the hood lacquer look, but a slightly matte appearance. I like it and it not going to matter at 2600 foot or heading for the tape anyhow. I see her as a tool to do the work I want to do, so the look is fine.

A bit hard to see the slicker than owl snot setup for the elevator horn to make the stab removal. Look close at second pic and you'll see a piece of brass tube that accepts a pin on the stab. The brass tube is attached to a ball link then is connected to the CF bowden rod.

Some other pics as well for short tour....Continue Reading

The Eagle flight went well except for the elevator/flying stab being trimmed with too much up to the tune of about 10 mm. Screwed the bowden clevises in and got the stab zeroed out then found I didn't have enough down elevator to offset the flaps.
Back to the shop, fiddled with the settings a bit and she's all ready for the next round.

Coming in a 51 oz. AUW the Powerline 1025,CC 50 amp ESC and TP 1300 mah 70C 3S is perfect for ALES giving a vertical climb rate of about 2200 FPM plus it puts the CG right at 86mm behind the leading edge. She answers the helm very smartly on all controls and turns on a dime with 9 cents change. It's early on and she needs some more flying time, but it seems she likes to point away from the wind a bit. Not sure what this is all about or maybe it could be the trim as she also wants to fly a bit faster than most of my gas bags. Overall, I'm happy and I think she's a keeper.


My final ( heard that one before) sailplane for ALES and fun arrived yesterday. Made by Mibo Models in Slovenia, she's a 3.9 metre disser moldie. The Electra 2 was unpacked and checked out and it looks good. She should come in at about 52 oz. or so and will be powered with a Powerline 1025 with a CC 50 amp ESC doing the electrical duties swinging a 16 x 10 prop. Servos will be MKS DS6100s except for flaps which will be Hyperion DS095FMDs for the added power. Guidance by Hitec A-9 and Hitec Optima 7 RX. Might be a bit until I get to work on her as I have to order the guts yet but I shold do that today. Some preview pics attached.

Short update. She's done and waiting for a test flight. Work demands and weather are holding up the maiden. Builder's photos attached.

It's been an absolute slog getting this thing together with work getting in the way of having fun. She's almost done except for the elevator bowden that I had to replace because I broke it. This turned out to be an expensive mistake as I had to order new 2 meter 1.5 mm CF rods from The Composite Store. Extra shipping cost for oversize package and extra charge for small order ran up the bill a tick or two.

In addition there was no manual so the engineering part of installing the bits was up to me to figure out. The fuselage is small with no room at all compared to Pulsars and my Longhorn. Other setbacks included having a motor that was too heavy so I had buy another winding up with a Powerline 1025 and a CC 50 amp ESC to achieve CG balance.

Some bright spots are the servo covers on the wings which are slicker than owl snot. They come pre-made and sit in a recess that make them flush with the wing and have a push rod tunnel that is actually usable with standard hardware.

Powerplant tests have been done and everything comes in 'on the advertised' as we said on the railroad. She's pulling 45 amps with a 16 x 8 wheel and the little 1025 just screams to pull the Eagle into the big blue.

Some pics...Continue Reading

New bird on the block from Soaring USA has arrived. The Eagle is a 4 metre full house electric sailplane that will be setup for ALES competition and LSF tasks. Motor is here, a Hacker B40-10L that will swing a 16 x 10 Aeronaut folder controlled by a Castle Creations Phoenix Edge Lite 75 amp ESC. Servos are MKS 6100's all round controlled by a Hitec A-9 with a Optima 7 RX.

She's gonna be a gasbag coming in around 51 oz. AUW making her a light weather ship and from reports she rides lift like crazy. Overall build quality is good and pretty much standard for the ARF sailplanes coming from Ukraine and Czech Republic with no new ground shaking techy stuff. Fuselage pod is a very light layup of glass compared to Pulsars and AVA's but I foresee no problems as dorking for landing isn't in my flight habits.

One minor build glitch in the fuselage pod where the wing mount screw inserts were not right with one being off by 3 mm. Soaring USA fixed it right up and anew pod is in route free of charge. SUSA rocks for customer service. More as the assembly process gets under way.


Some pics attached.

Just some more build pics and some other stuff I've been working on.

Short update:
Slogging away on the big bird as time allows. Had to cut my own trailing edge stock out of 3/8" sheet to get right size and then scarf them together to get the length. I found all the ribs from the Klarich partial kits have the main and sub spar slots cut too small, so now I have to sand each one to size just to slow things some more.

Bright spot is Caiile at Callie's Graphics did her usually top shelf work and I now how the lettering for the LRB I went simple with the lettering as it see to fit the plane...and well, me.

Some more messing about in the shop and the fuselage and tail assembly are done. With a fuselage at 52" long a roll of red Solar film don't go far but I got away with using only 1 1/2 rolls. Covering around the tail mechanism was easier than I had imagined it would be. The stick built access hatch also came out better than i had thought.

Finished up the battery tray and it's waiting on some nice 6-32 pan head screws to install in the fuselage. Two 2200 maH 3s batteries put the balance point at 50% on the cabane which is about where it should be. Building the wing is next on the board. It should go pretty fast as it's simple,. Some pic attached....Continue Reading

Some more messing about in the shop today. Some time spent going backwards undoing and fixing mistakes, some moving forward.
Made up the battery tray for the two 2200 mah Lipos and bolted it in. It has to be bolted in to allow for access later to the ESC/motor connection. Battery and access hatch built up from sticks to keep with the spirit of the look of a flying pile of sticks, it came out better than expected.

Removed and repositioned servos and now have straight line pushrod/bowden setup and I like it much better. Fuselage warp is being addressed now and the covering should take care of any minor tweaks

Long time in between entries due to work and selling some land and all kinds of stuff, but I finally got in the shop and fiddled with the LRB a bit. The landing gear drove me barking mad until I discovered the drawing were redone somewhere and the dimensions were all wrong. So I cobbled up something on my own and it works. I originally started painting the gear to prevent rusting of the wire and now like the look of the finished look better.

Made up some wood wheel covers like I do for all my old timers to give the right look without fooling with Trexler wheels which I've come to not like very much. Motor is installed on false firewall as mentioned to allow for refit with a ignition engine if I want to. Bowdens are installed and servos in place but I'm not 100% happy with the bent wire connections . Not too much I can do about it with the cabane mount dictating the position of the bowdens.

Looking backwards I should have built the elevators with a wire connector or a CF rod. I had to make up a yoke and slide arrangement to get both hooked up with out two servos . It looks heavy and cumbersome but its less than 2 grams and works really well. CF pushrods connected with ball links finish he setup. I came ever so close to making her rudder only and why exactly I didn't i don't know now.

Maybe some more fooling around tomorrow. Be a good day as it's supposed to rain buckets...or maybe I'll build an ark real quick.