| Growing Pains |
| You might ask, "how did you get started in this type of Radio Controled (RC) model flying in the first place. It was Christmas day, 1992 I believe at our friends Mike and Julie Ball's home for gift exchange. Mike had received a Goldberg brand model, a Gentle Lady 2 meter floater type kit from his wonderful wife. Little did she know where this gift would lead. Mike said, "Eric, you got to get one of these so we can build them together over the holidays, I'll offer my garage bench and we'll have a building party. I gave in and purchased a Goldberg model also, a Sophisticated Lady 2 meter, the same model as his except it had a "T" tail instead of the standard conventional tail feather configuration. And the rest is history........... The following is a timeline of events and models I built over the next 3 years, some in Mike's garage and some at home. |
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| This is that Sophisticated Lady model I built over at Mike's place in that freezing garage. It is a 2-channel unit with rudder & elevator controls only. You'll notice the wing is bent upwards on the outer panels. It's called "Di-Hedral" and it serves as the model's way of turning or Yaw. As the rudder is deflected one way or the other, the inward panel on the i.d. of your turn dips downwards as the opposite wing panel lifts upwards, causing the plane to yaw. It's a simple matter of air pressure difference's occuring at the wing tips literally forcing the model the way you want it to go. A great feature of this is that it is "self righting" when you release the control stick to neutral. These are the best beginner models on the market today. |
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| The next step was to advance into an aileron control type model. The reason is to fly a plane "fully". What I mean is, like a real airplane. These planes fly exactly where you point them and are not self-righting.This obviousley requires much more practise and skill as they are much faster in the air. This is the old Hobby Shack "Ridge Runt". Wingspan is around 50" and it weighs about 25-30 oz. It's also a 2 channel unit that keeps it very affordable and is easy to construct. Needless to say, it looks harmless, but it raised my anxiety 3 fold when first launched at the slope. It took me a good 3 or 4 sessions in the air before I got the hang of how to fly ailerons. Once it was ingrained on how to maintain safe and level flight, I was on my way. I think I crashed at least 50 times! |
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| I found myself looking at alot of models now. Mike & I went to Long Beach Ca., one day to watch the slope soaring on the beach. They were flying some incredible speeds in 15 to 30 mph winds. Two of the models stuck out as possibilities. For me it was the Coyote shown at right and a Jaguar for Mike. Both of these kits have a polyeurethane fuselage, foam core wing panels with a semi-symetrical airfoil. These are serious aerobatic task planes weighing about 50 to 60 oz., yet still 2 channel controlled. No rudder though, just full span ailerons and elevator, basically slope soaring hybrids. This was my first taste of real flying that would end up shaping my philosophy towards the hobby as a whole -------SPEED. |
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| Now im getting the bug to design and build "scratch built" models and do away with kit building. Enter the "Gigolo". We got to know a retired school teacher up on the local slope, his name was Dale Winder. He had designed this model years before and was an expert aerobatic pilot with it. Mike & I both had to have one to round out our flying stock, so Dale invited us by his place. He allowed us to trace his original fuselage templates and sold us some pre-cut foam wing cores for laying up. He also gave us photo copies of the built-up tail feathers. This model turned out to be one of my favorite even to this day and I highly recommend it in your collection. It is on the shelves at some local Hobby Shops, not quite the quality as ours, but just a ball to fly if set up right. |
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| I went ahead and decided to build a varient of the Gigelo and called it the "Stelleto". Similar in style and planform except the wing panel was swepted back around 6-deg and the nose moment lenthened 2" and the tail feathers also were swept rearward and raked. The model flew like a dream, cutting the air cleanly and picking up speed quicker. It had a slight tip stall but nothing to take away from it's overall agility. I believe it's terminal speed was about 20% greater than the Gigelo also. Still 2 channel control making it very affordable at around $50 to build complete! One thing about sailplanes is they are one fourth the cost of power plane kits and twice the fun. |
| Up to now, all the models I had been building and flying had a maximum wing-span of 72", that being the 2 meter Lady in the beginning, but mostly 60" and maybe only 85 mph. Mike had seen a V-tail plane called the "Swift 800" one day that turned us a whole new direction in the hobby that to this day still lives, that "SPEED" thing. |
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| Need 4 Speed |
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