RC Soaring
Mike Garton, 2733 NE 95th Ave., Ankeny IA 50021; E-mail: mike@iastate.edu
A QUIET REVOLUTION has been taking place in the last few years. While contest-flying and molded six-servo airplanes dominate the magazine space, a great number of pilots have been showing a preference for built-up, wooden, Rudder-Elevator-Spoiler (RES) models. Building an airplane from small pieces of wood is therapeutic and satisfying.
RES airplanes are especially suited to long thermal flights without scored landings. Most polyhedral airframes are spirally stable, meaning that the bent wings automatically coordinate the turns. This makes them relaxing to fly and to thermal.
Many pilots of the built-up, bent-wing models enjoy a fun-fly as much or more than a contest. One such gathering is the Wood Crafters Soar In Reunion hosted by Ray Hayes that will be held May 25-26 at the AMA field in Muncie IN. The format of this event is very laid-back. Only wooden sailplanes and Electrics are allowed to enter.
This is not an RES contest. The emphasis is on socializing with friends — no pressure-flying. Pilots can work on their League of Silent Flight (LSF) flight requirements. Flight instruction will be offered. Pilots will vote for Best New Design, Best of Show Overall, Best of Show Electric, Best of Show Oily II, Best Creative Covering Design, Best of Show Scale, and Longest Single Flight By One Pilot.
Pilots preregister to ensure that the frequency is available; this first-time event is limited to one pilot per frequency. Although the frequencies for this gathering are likely already full, interested people are encouraged to come watch and socialize.
Sportfliers that flout Thermal Duration contest pilots. If Scale-glider flying can be used as a barometer, this fun-fly format could become more popular than duration contests. Compare it to the very successful Elmira Aerotow event. Wood Crafters has the same "proud of the model I built" flavor combined with no-pressure flying.
Perhaps future Wood Crafters fun-fly events could adopt the multiple-pilots-per-frequency rules that other events use. Surely two or maybe three pilots could get their fill of flying if allowed to do so.
Although the Wood Crafters event is not limited to RES airplanes, the vast majority of built-up models are RES.
Shifting gears slightly, the rest of the column is about RES, including those not made from wood. Five years ago there were few choices for quality polyhedral airplanes. In the last two years the selection of RES models has almost doubled.
I created a table of 67 RES airplanes with wingspans longer than 60 inches. The majority are built-up wooden models, but I did include the composite RES designs. Twenty of the RES models are old enough to be Nostalgia-class legal. A couple designs were still being tested thus were not ready for specifications to be released. SkyBench Aerotech will be kitting Brian Agnew's new RES Bandit Laser. R-S is coming out with a Two Meter called the Jester.
A few kits in the table are buildable as polyhedral RES or as the wing alone or as a planes. I included "poly" in parentheses after the glider name to denote this. The Challenger is a polyhedral airplane that can fly in RES class when its flaps are disconnected (and taped in neutral).
An asterisk in the name column indicates that the airplane is sold as a "short kit": a partial kit that typically contains at least plans, instructions, and ribs. Some short kits include additional precut and/or hard-to-find items needed to build the model.
"F.B." in the airfoil column means that it's modified to have a flat bottom. I put a "yes" in the spoiler-option column if spoilers are at least shown on the plan. The tail type is "sd" for standard elevator on a fixed stabilizer or "flying st" for a full-flying stabilizer that pivots.
Two asterisks in the price column denotes the price of the short kit and does not necessarily include all of the available components. The fiberglass fuselage and canopy may be sold separately. Check with the source listed for full details. "FG" stands for fiberglass. "CF" is carbon fiber.
Addresses for most of the vendors are listed at the end of the column. Your local hobby store can get the rest through Tower Hobbies, Horizon Hobby, or Hobby People.
I have put this Excel spreadsheet on the Eastern Iowa Soaring Society (EISS) Web site so you can download it and resort it by span, price, or whatever you like. I'll add to it if somebody finds an available RES design that I missed. The prices may be out of date, but the rest of the data should be useful.
Sources:
Downloadable file of the RES data: http://eiss.cnde.iastate.edu/
- Woodcrafters Information
(Contest Director Ray Hayes) 9218 Thunder Hill Pl. Fort Wayne IN 46804 (219) 424-1322 skybench.aerotech@jete.net
- ChicagoSky1 Sailplanes (new location)
12040 S. Aero Dr. Plainfield IL 60544 (630) 759-7010 www.chicagosky1.com
- Dave's Aircraft Works
34455 Camino El Molino Capistrano Beach CA 92624-1005 (949) 248-2773 www.davesaircraftworks.com
- DJ Aerotech
719 Fisk St. Piqua OH 45356 (937) 773-6772 www.djaerotech.com
- Dream Catcher Hobby, Inc.
Box 77 Bristol IN 46507 (219) 523-1938 www.dchobby.com
- Isthmus Model Co (Mark Rittler)
133 Pomwood Cir. Madison WI 53717 (608) 212-2708 www.isthmusmodels.com
- Laser Arts
PMB 112 445 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd. Colorado Springs CO 80906
- MAD Aircraft
15268 Rolling Ridge Dr. Chino Hills CA 91709 (909) 606-0363 www.madcraft.com
- MMGliderTech
P.O. Box 30098 Downey CA 90239 (562) 927-2623 www.mmglidertech.com
- Northeast Sailplane Products
948 Hercules Dr., Suite 12 Colchester VT 05446 (802) 655-7700 www.nesail.com
- R&R Products
1120 Wrigley Way Milpitas CA 95035 (408) 946-4751 www.rrproducts.com
- Sky Bench Aerotech
9218 Thunder Hill Pl. Fort Wayne IN 46804 Tel/Fax (219) 424-1322 www.skybench.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
