I am excited to see so many new members joining us for the good times at HEFA.
With so many new faces around, I just wanted to throw a pitch out there for the exciting and always-rewarding world of sailplane flying.
In recent years, high-quality, easy-to-build sailplane kits have become more available than ever before. The electronics (motors, receivers, servos) are cheaper than ever. I think if we could get a few more people flying sailplanes at Shannon Park, we could consider starting up some informal contests. We would be the easternmost contest flyers by several hundred kilometers!
With that said, I would like to highlight a few promising kits that anyone (and I mean anyone) could easily get built and flying in a matter of only a few weeks, in the hopes that some in the club may find them interesting and join in the fun!
First, we have two kits from Armsoar, which ships out of Canada.
The Medina https://www.armsoar.com/collections/ele ... 3l-f5l-kit is a new kit selling for $330. It is an "F5L" plane, with a 2M wingspan, rudder, elevator, motor for launching, and spoiler for landing. Basically an electric variant of the popular (in Europe, alas for we who suffer in North America) F3RES-class planes, and it is meant to be an affordable but high-performance entry into sailplane soaring.
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Also available pre-order from Armsoar is the Phantom. It is an F5K plane, which is the electric variant of the F3K "Discus Launch Glider" class. You may have seen me throwing my DLG around, this is similar, though made of balsa and much more affordable. Because this plane is not discus launched, it does not need to be built as strong. https://www.armsoar.com/collections/ele ... ts/phantom
The Phantom would be a really fun plane; it has a four-servo wing (!!!) with flaps and ailerons, giving you lots of opportunities to do cool wing mixes like snap flaps, butterfly for landing etc. These F5K planes are smaller (1.5M wingspan) but the precise designs offer a huge amount of control to optimise thermal performance.
Of course if you are looking for something a little more local, you will recognise John's Mayfly, which is a 2M ship with excellent performance, which also falls roughly into the F5L / F3RES-electric class. The Mayfly flies very well, can take a beating, and has several innovative features that I am sure John would be happy to add to this thread. I don't want to speak for the designer!
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https://www.greathobbies.com/productinf ... arprodside
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