Model Sailplane Homepage

After graduating from the Windward, I took on the Marks Models Windfree sailplane that had a 99" wingspan. It was equally difficult to build, but it flew much better than the Windward. While on a trip to New York to visit relatives in Lackawanna, I looked up in the sky and what to my wonder eyes should appear, but an RC glider floating around. There was a large schoolyard behind my uncles property, so I beat feet over there and found a guy with a High Start and a 2-channel Kraft radio where staring upward. He had that combination receiver + 2 servos unit that Kraft made for a while (the KP2B ???).  He put in some really long flights, so I figured if he could do it,  then so could I. Well, I never did get the kind of durations he did, but made improvements over the Windward times. My Windward was red and white. I have no idea what happened to it or the Windward, other than they both must have met an unhappy fate.

Back around 1975 or so, RC Modeler magazine ran a feature on a design called the "Aquila." It had incredibly graceful lines and I knew I just had to build one. Airtronics had not yet produced a kit for it, so I ordered plans and built one from scratch. There was a hardware and canopy package available, though, so I purchased it. The pictures at the top of this page are of the Aquila I built off the plans. A radio failure (still that same old 3-channel job) ended its life. Fortunately, by then the kit was available from Airtronics, and my parents gave me one for Christmas. It was very well done and the parts all fit very well. The Aquila was not a beginner's project by any means. What I liked best about the design was the removable, all-flying stabilizer (stabilator). I bought a Cirrus 4-channel radio to use in it and used the wing spoilers. That brought a whole new dimension into RC sailplane flying. I put so many flights on it that the fuselage got worn out (OK, so partially due to some hard landings). Some company began offering an ABS molded fuselage for the Aquila, so I bought one and breathed new life into the plane. The picture to the right of my barracks room at Robins AFB, GA, includes the ABS fuselage.

After getting out of the USAF in 1982, and getting married to Melanie in 1983, the serious hobby endeavors took a hiatus until my son, Philip, and daughter, Sally, were old enough to be introduced to model aviation. The picture to the left is from while we were living in Smithsburg, MD, circa 1993. That was the first of many Great Planes 2-meter Spirit gliders I would build. We were fortunate enough to live in the country and there were flying spots all around. A large field across the road allowed me to use either a short HiStart (UpStart) or a power pod I built to strap to the top of the wing. A Cox .049 Black Widow took it up about 500' and the pod + engine + propeller + weight barely affected the performance at all. It actually helped on windy days. To top off  the perfection of my location in Smithsburg, about three miles away was a road named Crystal Falls Drive, and just to the north of it was an open slope that rose about 100 feet above the farm fields below. That was where my first successful slope soaring ever took place. I still beat myself up for ever moving from Smithsburg, but, as they says, hind sight is 20-20.

As an aside, my house also had a clear shot of the High Rock hang glider launching spot (click on thumbnails). It was a small outcropping from amongst the trees that was 1000' above the ground below. I loved watching the hang gliders soar up underneath the billowing cumulus clouds and then finally touch down in the field across from our house.

OK, so time went on and on and on, and finally I built another 2-meter Spirit. This time we (Melanie, Philip and Sally and me) were living in Colorado Springs, CO. I joined the Pikes Peak Soaring Society and flew at their fine field a few times before eventually moving to Baldwinsville, NY. Philip soloed for the first time on this Spirit. He had a bad habit of hitting immovable objects with it (a shed and a goal post), so it got a little deformed in the leading edge. It repaired rather well, though. I ended up selling it before moving back to Colorado (NY taxes are awful).

I decided to try my hand at electric flight and purchased Great Planes Spectra electric powered sailplane while in Loveland, CO, and was able to fly it from an expansive field adjacent to my back yard. The only obstacles to avoid were the cow pies. The Spectra is basically a 2-meter Spirit, with a motor and prop up front. I think it was a 400 size. Rather than use the servo-actuated on-off switch, I used an electronic speed control (ESC). The motor was a real piece of garbage. After about 4 or 5 motors runs, the brushes began fouling with a hard crust layer after every run. It always involved disassembling the motor and cleaning the brushes. I got so fed up with it that I just stopped flying it. We then moved to Kernersville, NC, where we now still live. I dusted off the Spectra and flew it a few times at a local elementary school. On one ill-fated flight in the winter, my aging eyes told me the Spectra was in front of a big oak tree while on a landing approach, when in actuality, the oak was between my Spectra and me. Needless to say, I was quite shocked when the beast came to a sudden halt and tumbled to the ground. The experience was rather strange because the tree was far enough away that I saw the plane hit before the noise from the crunching of the branches reached my ears (my eyesight is terrible, but my hearing is still very good).

A couple years later (this past winter), I built yet another 2-meter Spirit sailplane. A modification I made to the Spectra, I also made to this Spirit. It involves replacing the rear part of the canopy that overhangs the leading edge of the wing with a built-up fairing. That canopy overhang is easily damaged. Rather than allow the canopy to extend beyond the rear canopy frame and over the top of the wing, the canopy is trimmed flush with the frame, and a balsa fairing is built onto the wing. This provides what I consider to be a nicer looking interface, and it exposes the canopy to less of a threat of damage. A bulkhead is cut and shaped to match the rear of the canopy, minus 1/16" for sheeting, then a single spine is cut to put in the middle that conforms to the airfoil shape and provides a natural extension from the canopy shape. Finally, two pieces of 1/16" balsa are glued in place, the gaps filled, and sanded to a final shape. The picture to the right shows the finished product.

Believe it or not, finding an open field around here in NC large enough to stretch out a HiStart is difficult. Privately owned fields are usually off limits any more because of liability issues (smack a lawyer the next time you see one and thank him). After having my launch line land in a tree, I decided to convert the Spirit to electric. An order was placed with Tower Hobbies (they have been the recipients of about 80% of my hobby money in the last 2 decades) for a Great Planes Triton charger, two 1500 mAh Li-Poly battery packs, and a Master Airscrew 400 brushed motor w/3:1 gearbox and 10x8 folding propeller. The motor/gearbox was much too large and pretty heavy. Dang.

I wanted to get a good brushless motor, but from what I could see, the cheapest models Tower had started at around $120, and the special ESCs were about $80. Yesterday, Melanie and I went to KayCee Hobbies in High Point, NC, and with the help of a knowledgeable fellow named Robert, we left with an Elite Park 400 Outrunner motor ($55) and an Elite 20-Amp Brushless Speed Control ($42). I think the prices were excellent. I am utterly amazed at how much power is packed into that small motor. Modifications have begun for the installation of the motor. I plan to use a couple degrees of right thrust and down thrust as a starting point. I don't recall what the Spectra used for thrust offset, but it did pretty well with the factory amounts.

Final ready-to-fly weight ended up at 32.6 ounces, compared to 31.5 ounces for the original configuration.

Motor & Firewall	Motor on Firewall	Firewall in Fuselage	Motor in Fuselage
Firewall in Fuselage	Motor, Battery & ESC	Fuselage Cooling Holes
Receiver & Servos	Modified Canopy	Modified Canopy

View the video of its maiden flight as the e-Spirit, July 16, 2005.

We have been having a lot of wet and windy weather here in my area, but I couldn't wait any longer. Yesterday (7-16-2005), I took the e-Spirit out and I gave it a 12 minute and 20 second flight in very strong winds. Under power it just about hovered over the same spot as I climbed in to the wind. Overcast conditions meant no thermals to seek out, but I just wanted to make sure the darn thing would work - and work it did! with the 1500 mAh Li-Poly battery, Elite Park 400 Outrunner brushless motor & ESC, and 10x8 folding prop, it climbed at about a 45 degree angle all the way until almost out of sight. After floating down and fighting the wind, I was able to make three more climbs to about 500 feet after getting down to about 20 feet AGL. This is definitely a good setup - it weighs only 1.1 ounces more than the original sailplane-only configuration.