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Author Topic: Hand Launch Gliders  (Read 7396 times)

Offline Norm Faith Jr.

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #50 on: May 21, 2020, 09:23:35 PM »
growing up in Miami our group of kids flew HLG's .my last year as a SR, I won HLG at the King Orange

Hi Bob, the very first "model airplane contest" I enter, was at the King Orange, 1957. (I grew up within a bicycle ride to Master Field) I was 10 years old and I believe the entry fee was (best I remember a dollar) You were given a small North Pacific glider, that you had to assemble yourself (without help) and were given a few test glides. Then you were "total timed" for three flights. I won a brand new, just introduced, Cox Pee Wee .020. You would of thought I hit the lottery. BTW...I still have that .020.
Norm
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Offline Bruce Shipp

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #51 on: May 23, 2020, 02:36:08 PM »
Dan, I think my dad still has one of your Wasps hanging in his shop.

June and I lived in Winnipeg, MB in the early 2000s. The local RC club flew free flight each winter in an Air Canada hangar at the Winnipeg airport.  The hangar could hold 4 757s if I recall. 60 or 70 foot ceilings.  The boys and I had a box full of Lunch Box gliders and wore ourselves out.  We also flew rubber powered: parlor planes and easy Bs, peanut scale and walnut scale. Great fun.

Offline FLOYD CARTER

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #52 on: May 23, 2020, 04:23:15 PM »
"Catapult" gliders are not "hand launch".  Catapult-launch should be in a separate category and called as such.

For some of us old geezers, catapult -launch remains the only remaining option.

Too bad.  I really enjoyed HLG, while my body was still in a mood to cooperate.
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Offline pmackenzie

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #53 on: May 23, 2020, 04:57:59 PM »
Based on today at the field, I am not sure my body is in a mood to co-operate ;)

In any case, here are the HLGs I put together recently. Two Bo Weevils and two Sweepette 19", from Campbell's Custom kits.
Finish is polycrilic, three coats wiped on and wiped off. Nice to work with (no odour), but makes the usual "hot breath on the surfaces to adjust them" impossible.
Still working on trimming them, not working the way I remember!
Part of the problem I think is that my throw sucks at the moment, and is not consistent. So hard to work on getting a good flip from the climb into the glide.

Here is a video from a few years ago of the last Bo Weevil I had. It was pretty well trimmed, quite consistent.After many good flights  I lost it OOS at about 8.5 minutes.
 I was chasing, but a drainage ditch full of water got in the way.
By the time I backtracked around the ditch it was too far away to keep in sight, and still going up.



I also built a tip launch, but have not quite finished it yet.
 It will almost certainly fly better and be easier to launch than these, but just does not have the same "charm". Or perhaps it lacks nostalgia :)

Also working on some small FF rubber models. With no prospect for any C/L or R/C glider contests this season, I am taking the time to play with some of my old interests.
 

Pat MacKenzie
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Offline Ken Culbertson

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #54 on: May 23, 2020, 06:57:43 PM »
Based on today at the field, I am not sure my body is in a mood to co-operate ;)

In any case, here are the HLGs I put together recently. Two Bo Weevils and two Sweepette 19", from Campbell's Custom kits.
Finish is polycrilic, three coats wiped on and wiped off. Nice to work with (no odour), but makes the usual "hot breath on the surfaces to adjust them" impossible.
Still working on trimming them, not working the way I remember!
Part of the problem I think is that my throw sucks at the moment, and is not consistent. So hard to work on getting a good flip from the climb into the glide.

Here is a video from a few years ago of the last Bo Weevil I had. It was pretty well trimmed, quite consistent.After many good flights  I lost it OOS at about 8.5 minutes.
 I was chasing, but a drainage ditch full of water got in the way.
By the time I backtracked around the ditch it was too far away to keep in sight, and still going up.



I also built a tip launch, but have not quite finished it yet.
 It will almost certainly fly better and be easier to launch than these, but just does not have the same "charm". Or perhaps it lacks nostalgia :)

Also working on some small FF rubber models. With no prospect for any C/L or R/C glider contests this season, I am taking the time to play with some of my old interests.
 

Pat MacKenzie
Boy does that bring back memories. If you ever have the opportunity to build another Bo Weevil, DO IT but trim it differently.  It was designed to turn with only stab tilt so that it would tighten up in lift and not spin in.  Both rudder and stab were lightly airfoiled.  Don't know if those made the Kit version.  In calm evening air it should do two turns and about 1:10 - 1:20.  The launch is really close to what I remember.  Launched at 45 and it would do a nearly straight up climb with a half roll.  I am pretty sure there are bunch of them still up there!  There were two indoor versions (one for Cat II and another for Cat III) that Don and I flew.  The Cat II was under cambered the III was lighter, had no DT crud and less dihedral at the tips.   We never named it.  I think his son still holds the Junior Record with it.  Regretfully, Don is no longer with us.

Ken
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Offline kenneth cook

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #55 on: May 23, 2020, 07:18:18 PM »
               This post is great, my son and I built the Thermic B, the Bo Weevil and the Sweepete. I miss Campbell's kits. I do understand that they're still currently made by another manufacturer now being laser cut. My dad gave me a Thermic B 40 years ago. He said to me READ the instructions. I built two left outer wing tips from the airfoiled sheet stock. Not knowing how to fix it, I put it back in the box and finished it 40 years later. I completed it, but I had a heck of a time getting it to level out when it was up high. Dan Banjock helped my son with it and last year in the winter we took it out. My son tossed it and it just kept circling and climbing gaining probably 10' every time it circled until it flew out of sight. We never recovered it, I trimmed it with the red Japanese tissue just like the box. I recall Penn Valley hobbies rekitted the Jetco Thermic B and I never took the liberty to purchase another. I had another of Campbell's which was the Obarski which also did fairly well. Good stuff

Offline pmackenzie

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #56 on: May 23, 2020, 07:48:08 PM »
The kit for the Bo Weevil actually showed an anhedral stab, but you can find the original magazine drawing online and it shows the correct stab tilt, which is how I did it.
But it just wants to fly straight anyway, so I have a bit of left rudder, and a small "aileron droop" on the left wing to get it to turn but not spiral in.
I am pretty happy with the glide now, but just not getting the same sort of transition as the one in the video had.
 But that could just be me being a bit older and more out of shape, and not throwing it properly :)

My old one was good for about 45 seconds in neutral air, with my somewhat anemic throws :)
The BoWeevel is pretty neat, the way it starts to rock back and forth (Dutch roll) when it is in lift. The Sweepette does not do this at all

On the other hand, the Sweepette plan did not show anhedral. Almost every other Sweepette plan I could find online shows an anhedral stab.
But I could not find the plans for the 19", mostly for the indoor models.  I built it with a flat stab, much simpler :)
They all show the wing mounted off centre to get it to turn, but again that does not seem to be working.
 So far I have it set up similar to the Bo Weevil, but it has a habit of spiraling in out of thermals. Keeps me from losing it at least :)

Pat MacKenzie
MAAC 8177

Offline Steven Kientz

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #57 on: May 24, 2020, 06:47:37 AM »
  Searching for HLG kits I stumbled across Lasercutplanes.com. they kit rubber power, pretty cool.
Steve Kientz
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Offline Scott Richlen

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #58 on: May 24, 2020, 07:07:11 AM »
Quote
Searching for HLG kits I stumbled across Lasercutplanes.com. they kit rubber power, pretty cool.

As I said in an earlier post, get the Mountain Lion.  It is a great flyer!  And if you order 19 or more, it comes at a great discount.  It is the first build for the kids in our Fabulous Foo-Fighters Flying Aces Club.

Offline Dan McEntee

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #59 on: May 24, 2020, 09:17:49 AM »
I have really enjoyed this post/thread because rubber powered models and hand launch gliders are something that I always wanted to try but just never did.  Now, at 72, I think if would like to try it.  I know absolutely nothing about either rubber power or HGL but would like to try both.  Where would I go to order kits of both rubber power and HGL for something simple that I could start with and have some fun?  Thank you in advance for your help \.

Mike

   Hi Mike;
  I don't think your question got answered in full. The internet is full of plans and information. The National Free Flight Society has a web site full of information and sells products. Outerzone has more plans than you can shake a balsa stick at. The AMA has been selling a foam rubber model called The Alpha that has molded foam wings and comes with a winder. The winder is actually a pretty good unit and is reason enough to order up a couple of these. You will need a winder as you progress in performance. Guillows is still in business and they have a good line of beginner models. SIG still has free flight models in their kit like. Even the Delta Dart or AMA Racer can be a lot of fun, easy and quick to build, and can teach you lots of the basics. They can be scratch built out of lighter materials and used as an entry into indoor flying.  There is another site called freeflightarchives.com that has a lot of stuff also. With all the kit making that you have done, your scrap box has a lot of what you need and maybe yo have even thrown away some good stuff! Just pick a nice, HLG design that you like and add a hook of some kind to the nose and use a catapult. Start out easy and work up to real powerful launches.  I like to take the Guillows rubber models that come in a bag that are usually hanging on a hook at the check out of the hobby shop, and modify them for better performance. Great fun to fly on a clam evening under the street light. Flying Models even did an article on replica of some North Pacific dime store type rubber models. The party supply stores and departments of other stores have all kinds of different design tissue for covering rubber models with. The Peanut scale model class is limitless of the number of designs out there that you can download plans for, the same with what is called Bostonian class. And as Brett mentioned I think, if you can successfully build and trim out a free flight rubber model t fly correctly and consistently, you are well on your way to knowing how to trim a stunt model also. Or any model airplane for that matter.
  Good Luck and Have Fun!
   Have a Safe Memorial Day Holiday!
   Dan McEntee
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Offline Ken Culbertson

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #60 on: May 24, 2020, 06:24:57 PM »

...But it just wants to fly straight anyway,...
That was by design.  The tilt should give you two very large circles.  Sometimes we added a tiny amount of clay on the left tip.  The Bo Weevil was so successful because it found lift by covering more sky then it would tighten up and center in lift.  In the later versions we used Obeche instead of spruce.  You could twist it and change the stab tilt and it would hold sort of like tweeking flaps.   The key was a super high launch and the wide search for lift.  Our wings were covered with tissue and lacquer to a rubbed out mirror finish.  Then we cut the sections and glued the whole thing together on a jig.

Fantastic glider - Ken
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Offline Don Chandler

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #61 on: May 24, 2020, 07:44:55 PM »
My first control line contest was in 1969 in Hayward, California where I actually flew 5 and 10 inch HLG. Got a second in 5" a home made plaque by Dick Douglas. I still have that first "trophy" hanging out in my shop.

Online John Park

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #62 on: June 04, 2020, 07:07:38 AM »
A few days ago, I was rummaging in my scrap-box when I found a piece of 1/8" sheet, about 7 lb./cu.ft., with the most beautiful quarter-grain pattern you ever did see.  There was just enough for the wing of a 12" HLG, so I set to and made one of my favourites, the Frank Koditek/Bill Fletcher Spinner from about 1950.  As a boy in the mid-1950s, I made quite a few of the design, actually losing a couple in thermals.  I've just finished cementing thread along the wing LE, an old trick we used to prevent damage to the LE when the model landed in a bush.
(The first model aircraft I ever flew was a 12" span HLG, made the previous evening by my father.  It was also the first model aircraft I ever broke - hence the baffled expression on my three-year-old face!)
You want to make 'em nice, else you get mad lookin' at 'em!

Offline Randy Powell

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #63 on: June 04, 2020, 10:38:56 AM »
I'm working on a Challenger HLG. Built a lot of these.
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Offline FLOYD CARTER

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #64 on: June 04, 2020, 03:09:46 PM »
back when I was tossing a lot of HLG, I got more kick out of designing my own.  A lot if them were terrible, and quickly discarded.  But I stumbled across a couple of real winners-- quite by accident, of course.

I wonder if those "miracle" designs which were ether kitted or published were also designed "by accident"?
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Offline EricV

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #65 on: September 15, 2020, 12:53:53 PM »
Since we are talking about indoor models I am surprised doc Martin from south Floridian name has not come up.
   I helped put. on contest at the Delta repair hangar at Tampa airport. It was part of thr KOA one year.  Doc came up from Miami and we became friends. He invited me to come and stay at his home for indoor contest. I had held a lot of outdoor rubber powered models when the motor broke so I was use to it. Doc pulled out that small indoor model motor out to about 10 ft and had it half wound when it broke. Small model and small motor but it almost put me on the floor as it was so fast and no warning. That motor took off my glasses so fast I did not know they were gone After that I wore a small face mask    Doc went on to be world champion team member.
  EddyR

Hey Eddy,

I dug up this ancient thread just so I could post this pic I took long ago with I "think" the old Minolta SRT 101. I wish I could have found a higher resolution scan.
Here is you with Doc Martin winding one up that day.
Eric

Offline EddyR

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #66 on: September 15, 2020, 04:23:31 PM »
 Thanks Eric.   Who is that guy with the red hair?    That has been gone for a long time. Do you remember what year that was? Maybe early 1980’s. Bill Rich,Eric ,BilL Wilson and I did a lot of contest together.
 Ed
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Offline Dennis Toth

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #67 on: September 15, 2020, 04:28:24 PM »
For the past several months I have been playing with 12” catapult gliders. We have a free flight group up in Palm Bay that one of our group flies with on occasion and he started to talk about these gliders. Glider was my first love and the event I won my first contest in. I started playing with it and developed a simple design with a single dihedral that I set for a very tight falling leaf circle (lazy, don’t want to chase it too far). Once I started bringing it to our Saturday flying sessions I got hooked, This gets two birds with one stone, I get the have lots of fun shooting these little ships and I get some exercise chasing it.

Best,  DennisT

Offline EricV

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #68 on: September 16, 2020, 07:51:56 AM »
Thanks Eric.   Who is that guy with the red hair?    That has been gone for a long time. Do you remember what year that was? Maybe early 1980’s. Bill Rich,Eric ,BilL Wilson and I did a lot of contest together.
 Ed

I don't know, but I think it's the same guy who had recently given up on his flat-top haircut !  ~^

Offline Ken Culbertson

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #69 on: September 16, 2020, 09:42:46 AM »
Out in the garage, I have a kits of a Flash, US Kid and I think either a Polly or Bo Weevil. Also a few of the 404 and 74 AJ gliders. I lost a great flying Flash at a Boise contest years ago during a "test" flight. Chased it on a motor bike for ten miles,  Came to a huge gully and had to stop. Damn glider just kept on going. LL~ H^^
I am rooting for the  Bo Weevil.  Lost more of them than I can count.  We used to trim them at night just so that we didn't accidently catch lift.  Never went 10 miles though.  That is dedication!

Ken
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Offline Art Jessup

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #70 on: September 17, 2020, 10:23:20 AM »
TY, I have had success with the U.S.Kid, i think you will like it.
art

Offline Steve Fitton

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Re: Hand Launch Gliders
« Reply #71 on: September 17, 2020, 10:32:24 AM »
I still have one of Artie's old HLGs.  That thing flies a thousand times better than any I ever built!  Super long flights in the evening on the L_Pad with it!
Steve


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