Topic: Slope Soaring - the next step for me?

never at my local. Depends how peripatetic you are of course, but the Mynd is not 'foam country' to my mind.

M60s and the like are great, it just depends if you fancy the build, which not everyone does.

Yeah, when I suggested a foamie I was thinking a cheap, tough, easy to build plane like a Wildthing. The M60/Halfpipe/Moth are a different breed.

If you can find a used one that would be a good bet though.

Speedos are very good fun to fly and cheap, but they are pretty twitchy, and not tough.
 

Hi Scott, The Mynd site is a short walk from the stand of trees a few hundred yards before reaching the full size station, (unmissable). Allthough this is the westerly ridge and I don't think it was westerly today, has it's own parking as well, easily seen on Google Earth, showing the footpath and a warn area where pilots fly from. Ant.

Mate ,
       I can only talk from my experience with regards to slope soaring , I was taught by a power flier , although to be honest it was before electric power , and they seem to spend more time looking through the snap-on sticker covered flightbox and tinkering with what sounded like a nice running glow engine than actually flying. Bad as it sounds this actually put me off , But my mentore said i would love slope soaring .
                      That was the start of a passion for flying that hasn't stopped yet , even after stopping modelling for 10 years , I itched to fly on the slopes again, Now Originally i started with a Gentle Lady , which was amazing to learn on . However after a period it wasn't enough to control for me so i bought a Chris Foss Middle phase advanced Trainer . So it had Ailerons as well as Rudder and elevator . i went on to own a phase 6 Pro , fully symmetrical wing slope soarer , and at the time was an excellent Plane ( Still is ) . But leaving the hobby after 10 or so years i was unsure what to buy to get me back into it .
                     
                  So i bought a cheap power glider just to get my orientation up to scratch , but i wish i hadn't  it wasn't Aerobatic enough .  So i bought 2 other planes, one was a speedo Thermo (2 channel Ele/Aile) , the other was an EPP windrider fox .Ailerons rudder and elevator .
            Both have there moments, and both have rekindled my buzz for slope soaring , Either would be an excellent model for your move from power to slope , although the Fox may not be fast , it will fly in very low winds if put together nicely. The Speedo is, as the name would suggest a Little bit slicker , and therefore alot faster .  at less than £100 for the Both i think its a reasonable value.
                The Upside to the Fox is you can nail that sucka and smash ten bells outta it, Then Glue it all back together and have another go ,  the Speedo can take a good few tumbles , but  Unfortunately balsa built up wings are not the most impact resistant things , If you have built Balsa wings before then you have the knowledge already to know that they are fixable .
              I Just think buying a power Glider is a cop out , you will still eventually have to bung something off without the fall back of a burst of throttle .
         Just my Opinion , but if you was going to go for a Moldy , you cant go far wrong with a RCRCM Typhoon from Zim/Ian @ sloperacer , its fast, agile and very forgiving , and totally stable , you could also buy the E-Typhoon fuse and have a hotliner capability , which is what i think you really want if i read between the lines a bit , The Other thing mentioned was a MiniBlade . it is a rapid little beast , but i think it makes a better 2nd moldy , than a first    IMHO its not as stable as a typhoon , and you would have to keep it moving to make it stay up , that's difficult for many pilots to get their heads wrapped around , pushing the nose down when you think it should be going up , so the plane wont fall out of the skies .
                 Like i said it is just my opinion , and i know you've got the Puffin , i just don't think it will teach you anything other than its still easy to get out of trouble with a motor ,
                   On the slope that's not a luxury 

             Anyway , that's just my 2 pence . and i wish you well in whatever you decide to purchase , but always remember that your not really gliding when you have a motor.
                 Oh and i own both the Typhoon and a Miniblade 

                                       Good Luck
                                                               Bob
                         

Thanks Bobby.

Just been having a look at the sloperacer site and drooling 

I thinking of definitely getting a speedo to start, I'm use to twitchy models!

Regards,

Scott

Just been having a look at the sloperacer site and drooling 

I thinking of definitely getting a speedo to start, I'm use to twitchy models!

If you've got the budget, Zim's got the sexy composites...

As for the Speedo, it's a good plane but quite tight for the radio gear.. make sure you read through some build threads before deciding which bits to put in it.

Wow - it loks about the same width as a multiplex fox!

Wow - it loks about the same width as a multiplex fox!

Slightly narrower, I think

My receiver was a Spektrum AR500, without the case. It was back under the wings. Those are 1/3AA batteries, BTW. I think some people have managed to squeeze in a 4xAAA pack by hacking the cockpit out a touch, which is probably worth doing because 320mAh doesn't last long with an Rx and three servos to run...

loads a room......admittedly this is off a 3mtr plane   but it has got proper servos rx and battery pack   plus a ballast tube ......

sorry for the hijack Scott

sorry for the hijack Scott

Sounds like it won't be long before he gets there, if the bug bites like it has for most of us.

I think I averaged a new plane every five weeks for the first year or so.. several of which can still fly!

Admittedly most of them were second hand and very cheap, and I moved servos and radio gear between them to keep the cost down, but I definitely learned something from every single one of them.

I'm tempted to just go ahead and buy a speedo - do I take the plunge?

Scott

I'm tempted to just go ahead and buy a speedo - do I take the plunge?

Go for it. I got mine direct from R2Hobbies in China (10% off when you register) but then you have to wait a few weeks for it.

I got the Vigor wing servos from there too, they seem pretty good - stronger than the plane was 

I'm tempted to just go ahead and buy a speedo - do I take the plunge?

+1 for the speedo 
Loads of info on the "other" forum here... http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=610030&page=103 - plus the >>Outlaw Speedo Thread<< for loads of hot-mods.
Worth reinforcing the fuz under the wing - I haven't crashed mine (yet) but a few caught wingtips on landing have caused a crack in the fuz which I've just beefed up.
I built mine with a rudder & removable h-stab for packability - details >>here<<

+1 for the speedo 
Loads of info on the "other" forum here... http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=610030&page=103
Worth reinforcing the fuz under the wing - I haven't crashed mine (yet) but a few caught wingtips on landing have caused a crack in the fuz which I've just beefed up.
I built mine with a rudder & removable h-stab for packability - details >>here<<

+99 on the fuz. Even before I managed to crash it properly I'd cracked the fuse - in blustery conditions it can be difficult to land a twitchy plane like this smoothly.

Mouldies aren't as fragile as people make out. They are also easier to fly and easier to land, which kind of cancels out the bounciness of foam. Tbh if you're motoring and you slam dunk it into the deck, whether it's high performance foam (M60) or high performance moulded, you won't like what you see when you get there either way!

Z

Or taken a step further - if it's a foamie, then you won't like what you see BEFORE you tent peg it.........................

I'm tempted to just go ahead and buy a speedo - do I take the plunge?

Scott

Another +1 for the speedo, but as others have stated beef up the fuse area around the wing seat even in the newer less fragile versions.  Carbon tow etc will do the trick nicely...

Also with regard to battery you can get a 800mah eneloop 4aaa in the fuze if you dremmel away a tiny bit of the fuse opening at the fron end,  that battery pack will literally keep a speedo thermo flying for hours..

Guys,

was just looking at the multiplex page and cam across this:

http://www.electricwingman.com/multiplex-cularis-kit.aspx

I'm thinking this may be a good way to start for me, what do you think?

Would it be suitable for sites like the long mynd and malvern?

Regards,

Scott

Guys,

was just looking at the multiplex page and cam across this:

http://www.electricwingman.com/multiplex-cularis-kit.aspx

I'm thinking this may be a good way to start for me, what do you think?

Would it be suitable for sites like the long mynd and malvern?

Regards,

Scott

Hi Scott,

I would love one of those for flat field soaring, & sloping in the in the lightest of breezes, but I would think it might be a bit of a handful if the wind suddenly increased.

My Cularis went well in a blow with reflex dialed in across the trailing edge and flaps made landing a doddle. Tough and quite responsive. Rolls were 'elegant' although judicious application of the large rudder sped things up. You could put ballast in the battery space although the limit for this plane is always going to be the wing mount system.
Not really a beast for big dives and square pull outs. Big graceful scale like moves are it's forté and it thermals nicely.

Watch out for the wing retention system, I believe some people had problems with the wings releasing a little too early 

Tom

OK, think I have made my mind up now to start saving the two pound coins up for a flying fish 

??

OK, think I have made my mind up now to start saving the two pound coins up for a flying fish 

Spoken like a man who has just seen his first mouldie go...

Finaly got round to doing something about my urge to go slope soaring.

Got a Speedo Thermo in the process of being fitted out, just sent off my applications to join Malvern and Long Mynd clubs.

Maybe I might even get up on the slope before Christmas. 

I'll be in touch Mr B.

Scott

Nice one Scott - the Speedo gives a very good bang for a buck and I always toss mine in the car when heading out to the slope. In blustery landing conditions it pays to get it on the ground asap as it tends to get beaten up a bit in turbulance.

Speedo