ELECTRIC R/C
SAILPLANE CATALOG
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Stiffnecker's Delight Hi Ray, 1. ...this bird looks great from every angle (and what looks good generally flies good as we all know) - and gave me two wonderful years of relaxed and ultimatelly enjoyable flying so far. 30 minutes in no-lift conditions are my standard duration. What I like the most about my Li'l Bird (2m) is the fact that it is a very sensible thermal hunting machine. Your design struck the right balance between sensitivity and stability! It centers well in a thermal, gives clear lift indication, penetrates well on demand and reacts to the smallest control inputs instead of plowing mercilessly through lift and requiring "king-kong-like" rudder or elevator deflection like many other RE(S)-machines. To see that bird circling overhead and knowing that I put this ingeniously crafted kit together all by myself gives me a unique and very enriching feeling that simply cannot be beaten by an ARF product. Wood is sexy! Thatīs why I sold my 12foot ARF glass glider after a few flights. I cannot connect with ARF-kits. To me these products are not "bad-" they are simply "no-karma-stuff".
My equipment: 2. Question: The dollar is a low as never before (no Schadenfreud involved from my side) How much is S&H to Germany for the OLY III or the Sky Bird? All the best for now. Matthias Alfons Altmeier (Commander, German Navy)
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Windlord for Electric or Winch Ken Bates assembling his Windlord at Wood Crafters Superior Flying Wing performance designed by Ken Bates
Semi Kit includes: Laser cut parts, $89.00 sh $12.00 See Ken's build thread on RC Groups Purchase plan #215 from AMA Plan Service
Windlord Laser Cut Parts |
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Mini Lil'Bird E
Isn't it time for a duration Park Flyer ?
If you use a 4 oz battery the wing loading will be an incredibly low 6 oz. / sq. ft. |
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2ME LIL BIRD
Hi Ray, In this Age of ARF's, it was well worth it to build the 2 M E Bird. It flys, SOARS fantastic. I installed a Speed Gear 480 Race swinging a 10/8 folder. Thanks for a great Soaring Bird, all my friends say I have a winner. Roland Herzig Do you know how important low wing loading is to electric powered thermal sailplane's flight performance? Have you been turned off by the low performance junk on the market, I guarantee you will be thrilled with my electric 2M Lil Bird. I love flying this bird. You can fly it in very small areas, due to the low wing loading, landing approaches can be very short and slow. My designs are known for lack of tip stall, so it is very stable on a very slow, nose high, landing. This means added durability and relaxed landings. As with all of my designs, this is not a high production, cheap, but over priced, fragile (make the CEO money) kit. It is very durable and will last a new pilot a long time. The 1/64" plywood fuse doublers in the kit are far superior in strength than a balsa wood doubler. Photos of parts and construction can be viewed by clicking on ASSEMBLY TIPS, it is a simple model to build.
Pictured above are the parts that make the 2mE Lil Bird a great electric version. Notice the plywood motor mount has three tabs to correspond with the two slots in the fuse sides and doublers as well as the slot in the fuse plywood bottom. This three point mounting system will ensure a very strong motor mounting that will survive hard landings. The four triangular pieces are used to allow the fuse sides to fair into the prop spinner. The bottom battery hatch includes the stop rails and mounting pieces and hardware. Please notice the plywood doubler has holes to receive the wing mounting pegs, but the fuse sides do not. This allows the builder to build the 2M Lil Bird with a bolt on wing rather than a rubber band hold down and not have the holes in the fuse sides to contend with. The bolt on wing is highly recommended for the electric 2ME Lil Bird and only one nylon bolt is necessary. 2ME LIL BIRD KIT PRICE........$118.00 |
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Electric Big Bird The Big Bird converted to electric is a very good flyer. With some thermal activity and it will easily fly for an hour or more. The airfoil provides a very flat glide and will thermal out on light lift. The Big Bird kit is fully laser cut, fuse formers and sides have tab/slot engineering for easy assembly. Plans are drawn in CAD and include the electric installation. This is a very high quality kit and includes an Astro Flight 608G motor installation drawing by Jack Hamilton for LMR events. Please specify when ordering a Big Bird for electric flying and you will receive a weight savings carbon wing joiner rod instead of the heavy steel rod. My Bird Series, Lil Bird 2, 2m Lil Bird and Big Bird all convert to electric power and the flight performance will amaze you. The Bird Series designs use the S 3014 airfoil for excellent float and penetration and does not have tip stall tendencies. We build them without washout and the result is full utilization of the wings potential performance. SEE "ASSEMBLY TIPS" FOR CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS AND BUILDING TIPS. Kit Price........$138.95 Satisfaction guaranteed! Suggested Electric Motor Installation ...... AXI 2820/10, 13X6.5 folding prop, and a 7 cell 2000 mAh battery or 2 or 3 cell LiPoly battery with a Jeti "Advanced PLUS" 40 amp controller available from Hobby-Lobby.com Electric Big Bird XL The wing is extended two bays in each inner wing panel,
resulting in a 110" span. This lowers the wing loading and will be ideal
for an electric motor powered glider. Kit Price........$148.95
Ray, Big Bird Electric, Ken Troxell March 28, 2003
i am running a trinity chamleon 19t pro car motor with a 4.4:1 planetary
gear box,14x8.5 prop,jeti 35 amp controller,and a 1700 7-cell pack.
climbs to winch height in 30- 35 seconds at 60 degree angle. if i did
another i would use a jeti 30/3 brushless, 8 cells ,and a 12x6 prop.
Hello Ray, I spoke to you at the contest at the AMA site about the end of May. You took me to a Big Bird to show me how to make hooks at the wing roots to use rubber bands to secure the wings. I used that idea and attached is my first kit-built sailplane. (not my first kit) :-) . That contest was the first time I had seen a sailplane meet and winches in action. I finished my Big Bird last week. I put the maiden flight on my Bird Saturday, July 1st. WOW is all I can say! We are not a sailplane club........but I handed the transmitter to a very experienced aerobatic pilot who also was an avid sailplane guy for a while. His judgment is better than mine because he has competed and flown all types. His reaction was the same as mine.....WOW!! You have one wonderfully l designed sailplane in this XL Big Bird. (As I am sure all the Bird sizes are). I know your plans showed a geared can motor....... If anyone needs some info for an AXI you can save my email and refer them to me. I have some build photos I can send them, etc. OR ?? With an AXI 2820/10, 13X6.5 folding prop, and a 7 cell 2000 mAh battery, the RTF weight came in at 58 or 59 oz. I figured the wing loading to be about 9.5 oz. sq. ft. I have Li Po's coming and with a 2 cell and same prop, (a little less power), this thing should come out to about 7.8 oz sq. foot wing loading!!! I have PLENTY of power to climb with 59 oz...........so I am thinking the 2 cell LI PO will still do a good job. Moto Calc program says so too. Again......... thanks for your help and being so cordial at the meet, especially since you were the CD that day.
Yours Truly, |
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Lil bird 2, Electrified, stretched and flapped by Bob Egan Ray, Here's some pictures of the first attempt of adding flaps. It works, but it's a lot of work and may be more complicated than necessary. Looks like the completed wing with servos and joiner rod would be a little over one ounce heavier than the one I sent to you. When we were talking about adding flaps you mentioned hinging the flaps on the bottom. That may work better if we don't need to reflex to flaps up and don't mind the look on the on the wing top side. Bob  
   
  
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Electric Sun Bird
Sun Bird “Electric” By Michael Morgan
First off I would like to thank Ray for his commitment to producing very high quality laser cut kits and Dave Thornburg for his great design. I was in search of a plane to build for a Speed 400, 7 cell, last plane down event. The Sun Bird’s classic elliptical style wing and T-Tail design attracted me to this aircraft. I ordered two kits from Ray and was quite surprised to see them at my doorstep the next day. After an evening of carefully going over the plans and re-designing the nose section to fit a conventional Speed 400 motor and gearbox, the plane was assembled and covered in approx. 30 hours.
The power system for the Sunbird was designed to give a near vertical climb. The original setup was a 6 volt Graupner Speed 400, Maxon 4.4:1 planetary gearbox (see picture below), 10-6 Graupner folding prop and a 7 cell 500 ma battery. Using the Astroflight Watt meter, the current draw showed about 9 amps. On the first flight it was very clear that this was going to be the plane to beat, but the plane needed more prop or RPM to increase the rate of climb.
The fuselage with a re-designed nose section was the only area that changed from Ray’s original design. The T-Tail was made removable, the wing mounting was changed to an internal style mount, and carbon fiber was added to the inside of the fuse at the tail section for extra strength, Basswood was added in critical areas of the fuse, including a battery hatch on the bottom of the fuselage to increase strength. A modified fuse former was placed at the wings leading edge to hold the 3/16 dowel that was located in the leading edge of the wing.
The T-Tail was made to be detachable by a 2-56 screw and plywood clamp for easy transportation. A hardwood 3/32x1/4” leading and trailing edge was added for strength. Note. the stab slots and corresponding fin tabs provide alignment and are lazer cut by Sky Bench.
The wing was built to plans only adding 1/16 plywood doublers at the external dihedral joints. The wing was sprayed with a light coat of Kraylon paint and then covered with Mylar film from Model Research Labs Overall this kit was very easy to assemble and the flying quality is excellent.
Foot note by Ray Hayes Sky Bench Aerotech is indebted to Mike Morgan for this great report on converting a hand launch Sun Bird kit to electric power. Mike is the first to convert a Sun Bird and joins Bob Steele, the first to convert our Lil Bird 2, which is also a great electric flyer, to Speed 400. It is obvious, the guys with building skills are getting the most enjoyment from their model aviation hobby. | |||||||||
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Another Electric Sun Bird p
Ray, Here is the 'lectric mod of Sunbird. Simprop 280 BB in a 5 to 1 gearbox swinging 7.5 x 4 Graupner Cam Folder. 3 Lithium Polymer 1020 cells. All up weight - 14.7 oz. The mods were made centered on getting the Graupner prop spinner to align with the fuselage. This widening was done by splicing a 3/8 by 1/8 ply strip into former 1 and creating a former for engine mounting at the same width as the new F1. A 3/8 inch block of balsa was added to the belly to provide fairing to the spinner. A new servo tray was fitted to the widened fuse. Very little to modify as the fuse aft of F2 is unchanged. 1 degree of downthrust relative to the stab The worst part is the gearbox I chose takes up almost the same space as the spinner diameter. It is a regular old "offset" box (MJ8005 HobLob) This made for a paper thin fuse right at the spinner. This needed to be fiberglassed for strength. Since I was glassing here, I decided to use 3/4 oz glass on the fuse and fin. To keep the weight low it was attatched by spraying 2 medium coats of laquer on the fuse and fin. The glass cloth was misted with laquer and attatched with laquer thinner. Goes on as easy as wet silkspan! Filled the glass with 2 coats of polycrylic, 1 coat of auto primer and 1 coat of Krylon white. The motor-box-prop can draw 5 amps which really pushes the health of the LiPo celles, so I climb at 75% throttle. One minute to hi-statr altitude. I get 15 climbs off this set-up. Let me know when you get someting on the Legionaire Shuttle as I already have some prelim stuff for wing mounted landing gear and power train. Roy | |||||||||
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OLY ll S Electric Power Conversion
Converting the OLY11-S to electric takes little modification. I chose the E-flite 15 motor paired with the matching 30 to 40 amp controller. This motor is the outrunner style. For weight purposes and long, powerful runs I used a Thunder Tiger 3 cell 1100 li-poly battery. To finish the package a 1 3/4 inch spinner was installed on the shaft with a12x5.5 folding propeller. The fuse was built stock as per plans with the exception of leaving out the nose block and the tow hook block. Also there were four 1/2 by 1 inch slotted holes cut into this area to provide for cooling. For the motor mount I measured the inside of the fuse and cut a piece of 3/16 aircraft ply [not light ply] to fit. Using the supplied motor mount I traced the vent and bolt holes into it and drilled them out. Using the motor mount and screws supplied with the E-flite motor I then mounted the motor using loctite as you will not be able to get back in there later to retighten them later. This assembly is then slid into the fuse and epoxied in place. In order to get as much right and down thrust I used scrap 1/16 balsa as shims and let the motor rest on them as the epoxy set. To finish the fuse slices of the nose block were used to fill in on the sides and top and were then sanded to blend in to the spinner. I left the bottom open for ventilation. As this was my first E sailplane I was pleased with the outcome and learned a lot. As for the radio installation, place the servos, receiver, battery, and switch into fuse and adjust fore and aft until the balance is where you prefer and then rigid mount everything. I used two pieces of 1/4 square hard balsa stock to capture the battery, one at the rear and one loosely set over the top. With the battery leads ran through the former it stays there and hasn't shifted yet. Flying Report WOW! This combination is powerful. I can climb out at 60 degrees right out of site several times. This combo has to be at the upper end of the scale. This OLY2S E version has GUTS. Control is quite crisp and the sink rate is only slightly higher than the glider version. Slowing down for landings is done quite well with the application of the spoiler and elevator with no tendencies to snap or fall off. Slow speed control was never compromised and felt solid right to touchdown. I would recommend that the fuse bottom have some sort of added skid added to protect the fuse bottom as well as the spinner and blades. I highly suggest you build your own version. It has been great at lunch time to get in a couple of flights. My fellow club members have enjoyed it and I expect to see a couple more around soon. Sky Bench planes have always been top notch in quality and value and with this simple conversion now you can have an excellent E powered glider that will not let you down. Bob Legue | |||||||||
We switched over to a 5.2 volt Rocket motor and an 11-6 Graupner
folding prop and we almost doubled the rate of climb. We finally
achieved about a 45-degree climb drawing about 11 amps. This should
give the plane about 6 thirty-second climbs of about 200 feet.
A
hatch was created on bottom of fuse to access the 7-cell battery.
The hatch and wing are held in place with steel threaded pin that
screws into a blind nut located in the trailing edge of the wing. It
also serves as a landing skeg/pin for those pinpoint landings.
