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  #1  
Old 07-14-2013, 09:12 PM
aeppel_cpm aeppel_cpm is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Burlington, WI
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Default Best Glide = Last Glide?

So is the best glide of a boosted glider's life usually it's last?

Our little family launches had two notable flights today - our entry into mid-power - Big Daddy on a D12-3, and the best and last flight of our Centuri Hummingbird clone.

This was the scratch build that brought me back into rocketry - the model I loved best as a youth. Last year I cloned it, and a BT50 version. We fly out of an orchard just to the north of Bong, in SE WI. I figure we can fish a rocket out of any tree in the orchard - we've got the ladders handy.

On an A8-3 it lifted high, looped over as normal and then settled into a lovely slope with the wind. And didn't turn again. We last saw it sailing over a fencerow of hickory, still >50' up, and on into the soybean field to the west. Presumably.

I have a feeling of vu ja day. This is going to happen again. Is this the sad fate of the best gliders?

Charles
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  #2  
Old 07-14-2013, 09:23 PM
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shrox shrox is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aeppel_cpm
So is the best glide of a boosted glider's life usually it's last?

Our little family launches had two notable flights today - our entry into mid-power - Big Daddy on a D12-3, and the best and last flight of our Centuri Hummingbird clone.

This was the scratch build that brought me back into rocketry - the model I loved best as a youth. Last year I cloned it, and a BT50 version. We fly out of an orchard just to the north of Bong, in SE WI. I figure we can fish a rocket out of any tree in the orchard - we've got the ladders handy.

On an A8-3 it lifted high, looped over as normal and then settled into a lovely slope with the wind. And didn't turn again. We last saw it sailing over a fencerow of hickory, still >50' up, and on into the soybean field to the west. Presumably.

I have a feeling of vu ja day. This is going to happen again. Is this the sad fate of the best gliders?

Charles


Yes.

Treat them as laboratory animals and do not get attached to them.
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  #3  
Old 07-14-2013, 09:54 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aeppel_cpm
So is the best glide of a boosted glider's life usually it's last?

Our little family launches had two notable flights today - our entry into mid-power - Big Daddy on a D12-3, and the best and last flight of our Centuri Hummingbird clone.

This was the scratch build that brought me back into rocketry - the model I loved best as a youth. Last year I cloned it, and a BT50 version. We fly out of an orchard just to the north of Bong, in SE WI. I figure we can fish a rocket out of any tree in the orchard - we've got the ladders handy.

On an A8-3 it lifted high, looped over as normal and then settled into a lovely slope with the wind. And didn't turn again. We last saw it sailing over a fencerow of hickory, still >50' up, and on into the soybean field to the west. Presumably.

I have a feeling of vu ja day. This is going to happen again. Is this the sad fate of the best gliders?

Charles

Add an extra bit of clay or a heavy fillet to the far edge of one of the fins. Maybe it will induce more of a turn to that side and have more of a corkscrew return path.
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  #4  
Old 07-14-2013, 11:36 PM
atticus atticus is offline
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Back in July 2007, I flew my Squirrel Works Mega Red Baron on it's first flight.
The club - Vikings Rocket Society NAR 203 - was flying from a field at the far end of local county park.
This thing is large and heavy, so trimming tests in the yard couldn't tell me much. But, the CG was dead on per the instructions, so I figured I'd take the chance.
Boost on a D12-3 went fine the motor ejected and it settled into a beautiful glide.
Straight and a better glide rate than I expected. On and on it went towards the more used end of the park. It was getting farther and farther away, then, when about 4 feet off the ground I was feeling proud and wondering how the landing would be when it just STOPPED DEAD IN THE AIR. Dropped to the ground!
It had hit the cross pipe at the top of the outfield fence of a recently built LL baseball field.

This wasn't its last flight, but is was its best.
I repaired the carnage but must have overlooked something. On the next months try something gave loose and it broke apart in a couple of places on boost.
I repaired it well and repainted. It was hung from the end of one of the pipes suspended from the ceiling that holds some of the longer rockets.
And there it stayed until.....
Two years ago, I was sitting here at the computer, when the earthquake hit - epicenter about 10 miles down the road. At first I didn't think anything of it, but it kept getting stronger and I stood( to do what ,I wasn't sure) and noticed the Red Baron swaying on the pipe. I head for it, it worked its way off and I managed to catch it before it hit the concrete floor.
One day it will fly again.
Tim
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  #5  
Old 07-14-2013, 11:45 PM
fulldec fulldec is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aeppel_cpm
So is the best glide of a boosted glider's life usually it's last?



Usually not if you have radio control!
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  #6  
Old 07-15-2013, 01:01 AM
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Mark II Mark II is offline
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I have never faced any risk of having any of my gliders fly out of sight.

The best glides that I have ever gotten came down well short of the field's edge, and that was in a small field. My personal best was almost 10 secs. in duration, which was a major triumph and was easily twice as long as my previous personal best. I haven't been able to repeat that performance in any flight since then, but I keep trying. Eight years into it, I keep hoping for some kind of breakthrough. According to everything that I have read, people do actually succeed in getting these things to boost and glide. Even having both things occur during the same flight, from what I hear. It's totally mind boggling to even think about.

Usually my gliders' last flights are the ones in which they break up upon landing.
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  #7  
Old 07-15-2013, 07:43 AM
aeppel_cpm aeppel_cpm is offline
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Bill, thanks for the wingtip weight suggestion. I'll try it with the surviving Hummer-50.

Don - working on it. I had planned to scavenge the parts from my boy's Cox Sky Ranger when he broke it - but he went and lost it entirely instead.

I checked the videos of the flights and we lost sight of the Hummingbird at around 15 seconds - which I figure is pretty good for that design. It doesn't have a reputation for duration.

We also flew an Estes Tercel - which swooped and swirled beautifully for a roughly 27 sec flight. (On a 1/2A4-2T)
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  #8  
Old 07-15-2013, 09:16 AM
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ghrocketman ghrocketman is offline
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Every one of my boost gliders flies fairly decent, EVEN the orbiters on the Orbital Transport and Scale Estes Space Shuttle. Both of those needed a ton of trimming and a lot less up elevon and more noseweight.
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  #9  
Old 07-15-2013, 09:18 AM
fulldec fulldec is offline
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Default Beginning boost gliders

There is a wide range of boost gliders. Many kits are what I classify as "novelty" gliders. They look cool, you usually paint them (which makes them heavy) and they barely glide. They can be fun, but they aren't much of a true glider.

Kits like the Estes Tercel and Semroc (used to be a Centuri kit) Swift are more of a performance glider type design. They are a good way to get into performance type small gliders. Once you get them working, you may clone them with better balsa you can hand select.

If you want long durations, don't weigh you glider down with paint. One or two coats of model airplane dope thinned 50% is all you want. For color, you can use fat magic markers. It is not a show quality finish, but it works and weighs nothing.

I have gotten to where I will build 2 or 3 at a time. It doesn't really take a lot more time to build a couple than it does just one. That also gives you a spare in case it flies away.

Once you build them, you definitely need to trim them to fly nice. First you toss them and add weight to get them to glide straight. Start with it balancing about a 1/3 way back from the front edge of the wing (without the boost pod) You usually have to add weight (modeling clay) on the nose to make it stop stalling (it wants to climb, then dive, climb then dive). If it just wants to dive into the ground, add some tail weight, but that should not be the case with one of these models, check all the surface for warps, or things not glued correctly.

Now once it is flying straight, you want to make it turn in a circle or it will turn downwind and fly out of sight when you launch it. Sometimes there is enough asymmetry in the model that it will turn on its own. If so just work with that. If not, it is time to take matters into your own hands. Add a little weight to the wing tip. It will turn toward the heavier side. You will probably have to remove a little nose weight when you add that weight to the wing.

Keep tossing and adjusting until you get it flying the way you want. Then go launch. It helps to have a 4' rod or take your 3' rod and tape it to a 3' dowel stuck in the ground. That allows the glider to have more usable launch rod length to guide it and gives you a much better boost.

Have fun, gliders are the best!

Don
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  #10  
Old 07-15-2013, 03:59 PM
chrism chrism is offline
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My first and only flight of a glider was an Edmonds Tinee. I used a 1/4 A 13mm enigine on its maiden flight. Upon ejection of the engine, it was just enought for it to land in a tree. It was a nice little kit and not that expensive I plan to get another.
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