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R/C sailplanes

nixon

Boned
GOLD Site Supporter
I got into R/c around 1964. all of it was powered stuff until around '95. Then I, discovered Soaring . The fact that You can keep an acft in the air for hours without an engine has fascinated me ever since . John
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
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nixon said:
I got into R/c around 1964.
R/C in 1964?? I thought that was R/B.

Never saw a RC sailplane

Brian

Oh... R/B = rubber band
 

nixon

Boned
GOLD Site Supporter
Brian, Next time we meet , I'll bring one ,or two of them .They span from 8'to 12' . As Far as RB's are concerned , the actuators ,called escapments were indeed powered by a set of "rubber bands" . We were also on 27megs . Basically , We built ,more than We flew :) John
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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John I never played with the RC air planes but did shoot off a fair number of rockets in my youth. As the town built up with new homes and launching areas became scarce that hobby came to an end. But my daughter and I were watching "Master Blasters" on Discovery(?) one day and I realized I know own my own fields! So I may buy a kit and show her some rockets.

But onto your topic, and I know that is going to sound pretty stupid, but if the sail plane has no engine then how do you get it up in the air? When I've gone up in gliders we had a Cessna tow plane pull us up, we'd drop the cable and then glide on our own. Is there some sort of motor assist that you cut out, or is it like a kite but where you can release the line, or do you just throw them up in the air and they have enough lift to stay aloft?

:confused:
 

DaveNay

Klaatu barada nikto
SUPER Site Supporter
Bob, from what I have seen of the sailplanes, they can be launched a couple ways.

1. by hand (better have a nice hill)
2. with a big rubberband slingshot (for us flatlanders)

Flying time is very dependant on terrain and just like the large sailplanes the thermals make a big difference. Over in Nixons part of the world, he has nice hills to generate updrafts and give him his 4 hours of flight, but around me it is too flat, and the guys I know with them only get 10-15 minutes. Your area is a little hillier than me, so you might do really good. I would imagine that a place like Indiana or Warren Dunes would be great, but possibly too much wind there.
 

nixon

Boned
GOLD Site Supporter
Dave named Two of the ways to launch . By hand is out for me as most of my planes weigh in at around 5 pounds . And I can't throw a fit , let alone that much weight . The second is a surgical tubing bungie set up called a high-start. It's good for lighter models . The third is what I use ... An electric winch made from an old ford starter motor .It's been modified with 6v windings ,ball bearings instead of the original sintered ones . I run it on 12v .
You can easily get 500 feet using one of these . You can also easily rekit your ship if you stand on the power too much :) John
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
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nixon said:
The third is what I use ... An electric winch made from an old ford starter motor .It's been modified with 6v windings ,ball bearings instead of the original sintered ones . I run it on 12v .
You can easily get 500 feet using one of these . You can also easily rekit your ship if you stand on the power too much :) John

I don't understand how that works. Do you have a pic by chance?
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
My BIL is really into R/C airplanes. I really had the hankering (is that a word?) to buy one until I flew one of his high end stunt planes. Oh, I flew it fine. Everyone at his R/C club couldn't believe that it was my first time. I was deemed "a naural". That was right up until the point to where I flew it out of sight and lost radio contact. :eek:

I was told that it was a 4 channel (or something like that) Futuba (sp?) radio had a range that was way further than I'd ever need. The best speculation is that when this low cloud came in and I had the plane out to where it was just a speck, we all just lost sight of it but the radio was still in contact. I guess there is no "come home" mode. :( The plane was never recovered. Soooo, I have actually bought an R/C plane, I just don't have one.

The helicopter sounded really cool to me too until a gust of wind caught a guy's really big one and he flew it into the side of another guy's truck. From what I understand, it was a several thousand dollar accident! :eek: So now, since I have a few lakes, how about those R/C boats?! :whistle:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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Brent, sounds like anything you get that is R/C should have a string tied to it so you can get it back and maybe some bubble wrap to protect it when it crashes too.
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
B_Skurka said:
Brent, sounds like anything you get that is R/C should have a string tied to it so you can get it back and maybe some bubble wrap to protect it when it crashes too.

Yeah, okay, so what's your point? :D
 

buy_25

Banned
Dargo said:
My BIL is really into R/C airplanes. I really had the hankering (is that a word?) to buy one until I flew one of his high end stunt planes. Oh, I flew it fine. Everyone at his R/C club couldn't believe that it was my first time. I was deemed "a naural". That was right up until the point to where I flew it out of sight and lost radio contact. :eek:

I was told that it was a 4 channel (or something like that) Futuba (sp?) radio had a range that was way further than I'd ever need. The best speculation is that when this low cloud came in and I had the plane out to where it was just a speck, we all just lost sight of it but the radio was still in contact. I guess there is no "come home" mode. :( The plane was never recovered. Soooo, I have actually bought an R/C plane, I just don't have one.

The helicopter sounded really cool to me too until a gust of wind caught a guy's really big one and he flew it into the side of another guy's truck. From what I understand, it was a several thousand dollar accident! :eek: So now, since I have a few lakes, how about those R/C boats?! :whistle:

4 channel??? That is kid stuff! the heli should be ok if it is a good heli (quality). Now the truck??? I know when I hit my house, it did not look to good!
 

nixon

Boned
GOLD Site Supporter
buy_25 said:
And I thought my heli was cool
Actually, I think They are the coolest thing in RC . But , they have too many moving parts to suit me :) That , and at the least provocation tend to commit Suicide ! Even the most minor mistake seems to make the main rotor hit the boom . Then it's all over :)
John
 

nixon

Boned
GOLD Site Supporter
Doc said:
I don't understand how that works. Do you have a pic by chance?
Doc , I don't have any pics Of the winch / retiever system handy . But. I'll see what I can dig up . I'll try to post an explanation of how it all works at the same time . All I can say is that most folks think sailplanes are fairly sedate , until they see a full competition winch launch . If done right , and the sailplane is strong enough the first 100-150 feet are pure vertical . John
 

buy_25

Banned
nixon said:
Actually, I think They are the coolest thing in RC . But , they have too many moving parts to suit me :) That , and at the least provocation tend to commit Suicide ! Even the most minor mistake seems to make the main rotor hit the boom . Then it's all over :)
John

I have blown out my main rotor (5.5 feet) 3 times @ $120 for the blades. The problem is that it is easy to fix. The problem is main bearings, shafts, main shaft, secondary shaft, etc.

Now if the rotor goes, for me it cheap to fix but a pain to take a part. But then again, I have crashed so many times, I can take the complete heli apart in less then 1 hour.

I have only messed up the rotor twice. Really my heli (carbon fiber) can take a beating pretty well. It should for the price I have paid for it.
 

nixon

Boned
GOLD Site Supporter
. Really my heli (carbon fiber) can take a beating pretty well. It should for the price I have paid for it. (buy 25 )


I'm Sure that the rotors weren't cheap ! But they are probably worth the cost and then some . A couple of my sailplanes have graphite /kevlar hollow molded wings . Not cheap,but the are tough as hell.
One thing I'd like to recommend to anyone that appreciates machinery.....
Take a look at an R/C Heli. The amount of miniturization,and complexity is fairly astounding . John
 
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