[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

Originally Posted by davidmc36

I will build with intent of Power 15 as a maximum motor size.

Is that the E Flight Power .15? If it is then that is what I have in my Sig Seniorita. Lots of power for Regallow wing, float flying AND I use it as a glider tug up to 100" gliders!

On wheels it has unlimited vertical so there should be NO problem powering a 3 meter glider!!!

[mobird]

Originally Posted by Dale Hunter

Charles, season greetings.
What have you got/been flying? Where this is going, any motor/prop drive sitting around? If so what size, wattage? Have you thought of a kit build? Man so many question marks!
A 3M kit, or kit bash can make a really good E-glider for thermal work. Others may disagree but I have had very good climb out of 200W motors often considered a 2M power system. Not a 45* climb, but a fair and adequate climb. I have been proping my 3M (by wattmeter) between 300-450W which is a very aggressive climb. If you can find a Riser 100, or plans stretch it, fuse, and span. I did a total scratch design/build about 3 winters ago. "That looks about right", simply called Two, it perfomes very well, floats quite slow, yet penitrates a breezy day well. It may look unfinished with my $.11 a foot photo finishing mylar on all but the wings. It was very inexspensive, and yet more rewarding than kit builds.
Hope this helps, Dale.

Hi Dale, I'm currently flying a Dust Devil (290W), a MaGellan E 2M (290W) and a Gem (350W). I powered them with various motors from Mega 16/15/3 to an Eflight BL25. These are motors that I had in the workshop. The BL25 is in the Gem which is more of a hot (warm) liner. I still have a couple of 300w to 350w motors and will use one of them in whatever I go for next. I've done quite a bit of building in the past, scratch and kit, but I don't have the inclination to build much these days. The ARF's are so good if you pick the right ones and then put your own gear in them. Your scratch built looks very good and I agree it's very rewarding when you finally fly your OWN build.
My three 2M gliders all have more than enough power, up to 1000' on 30 second motor run, but I can throttle back to climb a bit slower. I'm using 1800 to 2200 mAh packs with them and get lots of flying time on one charge.
As I said earlier I'm pretty sure I'll go with the Avia. I may swap motors around to get the best power/weight ratio for it.
Charles.

[John O'Sullivan]

Hi Charles:
Andrew Smith in our Halifax Club has a Prelude which is the cross tail version of the Avia and is very pleased with it.
Personally, having flown many vtails, I just feel more comfortable with cross tails and the Prelude is only $20 more.
The only misgivings that I have with either is the full open structure of the wing which may be vulnerable on tree landings.(ask Andrew Smith)
Overall it is a fine model and you will not be disappointed.
Prices are almost identical from Icare and Esprit.

Happy New Year from the Emrald Isle,
John

[mobird]

Hi John, happy new year. I hope to visit your club in the new year.
Thanks for your comments on the Avia/Prelude. I have only flown V tails upto now, the X and T tails look as though they are more vunerable to hangar damage. This is probably just my fancy. My one reservation still is whether this plane will be good in windy conditions. upto say 15kms which we get a lot of around the Truro area. My Dust Devil which is fairly light has no problems with this.
Charles.

[John O'Sullivan]

The Avia and Prelude will handle most conditions. They are both higher wing loading then the Pulsar 3.2m that Andrew and I are flying and the Pulsars will handle 25 kph winds on the slope without a problem. Most of the problems will be solved if you have confidence in your model. Just remember that the higher the wind speed, the lower your ground landing speed will be.

[mobird]

That's encourageing. The Prelude has a flying stab rather than an elevator. What's your feelings on one versus the other?
Charles.

[John O'Sullivan]

I've always been a fan of flying stabs, and use them in just about all of my designs, Spinifex (RCM Sept 1986), Minifex etc.
they allow you to adjust the tail incidence to an optimal setting, without having to incorporate up or down trim on the elevator to achieve level flight

[mobird]

Another question for you John, or anyone else who would like to jump in. REF versus full house, pro's and con's, opinions? The Prelude is available both ways.
I have one RES and two full house gliders to date. I actually like the RES better for thermalling.
Charles.

[davidmc36]

Originally Posted by John O'Sullivan

I've always been a fan of flying stabs, and use them in just about all of my designs, Spinifex (RCM Sept 1986), Minifex etc.
they allow you to adjust the tail incidence to an optimal setting, without having to incorporate up or down trim on the elevator to achieve level flight

When you refer to a flying stab, are you talking about a ground adjustable or in flight?

I picked up a Super Rieti that has a movable stab instead of an elevator.

Would there be any advantage to modifying the stab to have an elevator and the ability to trim the stab in flight?

[ddruck]

I still wrestle with that myself. I have both type gliders and if flown correctly the full house should have advantages in finding lift and staying in lift, better penetration ability due to camber changing..... The RES or REF is usually lighter, better floater in no wind conditions but lot less universal in varying weather conditions. If you live in windy part of the world you will fly the full house more often. Now in competition, I always try to fly my RES because it is very easy to blow it with full house, when it is hard to see, and loose a lot of height before getting out of it, RES is much less stressful for me under pressure, so I always tend to do better with it unless it gets windy. But I guess it is all in practice, fly as much as you can just one plane and get to 'Zen' with it.

Originally Posted by mobird

Another question for you John, or anyone else who would like to jump in. REF versus full house, pro's and con's, opinions? The Prelude is available both ways.
I have one RES and two full house gliders to date. I actually like the RES better for thermalling.
Charles.