Slope Flyer #1 - Inland Slope Rebels

Welcome to Issue 1 of Slope Flyer Magazine. I hope you enjoy our little experiment into the world of publishing. Our hopes with this venture is to
print one issue per year to be distributed at the January AMA show and to publish 3 additional issues to be available for download in .pdf form on
the Inland Slope Rebels website. If you like what you see please let us and the vendors that support us know. Without Vendor support the ISR as we
know it and this publication would not exist. Thank you Brian Laird and the Inland Slope Rebels. Www.inlandsloperebels.com
Slope Flyer
2004 in Review
2004 can almost be described
as the year the earth stood
still. Many of the scheduled
slope events were plagued with
a serious lack of lift. From
Washington to California to
Kansas to Utah the weather
gods were not kind to us
slope-heads. On the brighter
side Southern California had a
relatively cool summer making
the inland slope sites a little
more bearable this year.
The Viking race in Germany
managed to get all it’s rounds
in this year. The ISR in Davenport had great conditions and a
couple of the ISR contests
were blessed with great lift.
Another sad day came when
they started building homes on
one of the better Santa Ana
wind hills in Riverside. Lake
Hills is now a construction site
and we’ve lost another site to
the housing boom in Southern
California. On the positive side
Torrey Pines is back up and
the slope racers discovered a
new site to race near Point
Fermin (White Point). Some
guys have also been flying again
on Skyline drive at the top of
the Cleveland National Forrest
in Corona, Ca. This site offers
great alpine style soaring in
SoCal. The ISR is continuing to
work with the US Forrest service to get a landing and Parking area graded at Cajon Summit. Hopefully this will happened before we are all old
and grey.
There were no giant leaps in
slope technology in 2004 but
several products were refined
and improved. Carbon versions of many moldies are now
available for the DS nuts
among us. Cross tails are making a comeback and many
popular planes are loosing
their V-tails to the more conventional variety. There has
been another explosion of EPP
kits with new manufacturers
and designs hitting the market.
Overall slope soaring as a
hobby seems to be doing quite
well. Hopefully we can find
some more permanent sites so
that we can continue to enjoy
Slope Soaring well into the
future.
Ralph Roberts gives this Mibo
Swift a healthy chuck at Soar Utah.
2005, Looking Forward
So what’s in store for next
year. Well if you are interested
in upcoming slope events there
will be plenty as usual to use
up all those vacation days and
tick the wife off. The first large
slope event of the year is the
Los Banos Scale event in mid
April. Yea it’s a “white wing”
thing. But if you can get past
that it’s a fun event to attend
or just watch. Slope flying and
aero-towing if the slope lift is
not working. May has a multitude of large events. Too many
actually making it nearly impossible to attend more than one.
The Midwest Slope Challenge
is held at Lake Wilson Kansas.
This is several days of slope
racing everything from foamies
to open class.
The Davenport International
Slope Race is held in early to
mid May. No word about the
date as of yet.
The next event is the Tri-Slope
Six-pack. This is three days of
flying on several different
slopes in and around the Tri-
Cities area of eastern Washington. This one is scheduled
for May 20-22nd. The PSS Festival is scheduled for it’s usual
weekend of May 27-29th. An
Alpine soaring day is scheduled
for the Thursday prior to the
event at Skyline Drive in the
Cleveland National Forrest.
The ISR Carnage at Cajon is
scheduled for July 23rd at
Cajon Summit. This warbird
only combat event is always a
crowd pleaser.
As you can see there are
plenty of slope events scheduled for this year. It’s always a
good idea to start planning for
any of these far in advance.
The dates have a nasty habit of
sneaking up on you. There’s
nothing worse than having that
special event creep up and you
have no planes for it. Start saving, start building and get ready
to have a great 2005!
The Point Fermin pot luck and
fun fly is scheduled for August
20th. Come out, bring food,
family and planes for a fun day
at Point Fermin Park.
Page 3
2004 in Review
3
2005. Looking forward
2
New Products
4
Expo, what’s that?
5
Think you’re fast?
5
Flutter, What’s that?
5
Shop talk
5
Soar Utah
6-7
Storm Review
8
Product Reviews
9
Shop Talk
10
Applying Panel Lines
11
How to Find the CG
12
Places to Fly
13
2005 Schedule
14
Editor’s commentary
15
To Contact: Slope Flyer
Brian Laird
12935 Lasselle St
Moreno Valley, Ca 92553
[email protected]
Of course the ASRO will be
running various slope races
every month and you can get
that schedule at sloperacing.
com
Other info on upcoming events
the world over can be found at
Rcgroups.com in the slope
soaring forum.
Inside this issue:
Slope Flyer staff
2004 Point Fermin Pot Luck
and fun fly.
Editor…………....Brian Laird
Art Director…..….Brian Laird
Writers………….Brian Laird
Carl Maas
Tim Neja
New Products
PSS Masters DVD
If you are into PSS then this
new DVD from Radio Carbon
Art is a must have. Heck even it
you’re not heavy into PSS this
DVD is a must have. The slope
soaring footage alone is worth
the cost of the movie.
This hot new 2 hour film
features the best of Power
Slope Scale flying. Filmed at the
world famous PSS Festival at
Cajon Pass, California, this high
quality DVD features top pilots
and master modelers who create some of the coolest composite and EPP slope gliders
ever designed.
You will see in detail and in
flight some true works of soaring
art like Carl Maas' huge B-29 and
Brian Laird's collection of WWII
German fighters. As with all of
Paul Naton's films, you get great
photography, lots of pilot interviews, and the best flying action
ever caught on film.
You will also visit Los Angeles'
epic slope site Point Fermin for
some half pipes "Cali" style and
some beautiful flights by the Fermin pros.
DVD extra features include wild
PSS action from South Korea
with flights of a giant C-17 and all
EPP B-17, and an educational
painting clinic taught by PSS
building and finishing expert
Brian Laird.
Ordering Info:
To order call
541-752-9661
Or online at,
radiocarbonart.com
Radio Carbon Art
PO Box 2311
Corvallis, OR 97339-2311
The newest DVD from Radio
Carbon Art is a keeper!
“The Soaring Experience” 2005 Calendar
The Soaring Experience 2005
Calendar is a high quality limited edition 12 month deluxe
wall calendar featuring a collection of Paul Naton’s superb R/
C soaring art photography.
Published in cooperation with
SoaringUSA.com, this unique
and inspiring calendar is a must
have item for your home,
shop, or office and makes the
perfect holiday gift.
Each month’s calendar page
features two great soaring
photos along with a cleanly
designed grid with major holidays and moon cycles noted
with plenty of space to write
down important dates and
soaring events.
The Soaring Experience calendar features 14 gorgeous soaring themed photos printed on
top quality paper which are
suitable for framing once the
year is over. You will surely
enjoy the action, grace and
beauty of Paul’s soaring images
throughout the year.
This calendar is a very limited
edition and they are sure to
sell out quickly. Order your
copies now before they are
gone. For club and quantity
discounts, please contact us by
phone or e-mail.
A portion of the proceeds
from the sales of this calendar
will be donated to future adult
and youth U.S. soaring competition teams.
Order through Radio Ca rbon Art or Soaring USA
The 2005 Soaring Calendar
from Soaring USA and Radio
Carbon Art. Superb quality!
Blade 2 Meter Carbon “DS Version”
The Blade 2M Carbon is a
great sloper and also a super
plane for Dynamic Soaring,
obtaining
speeds in
excess of
200 mph!
Strong enough for
serious DS'ing, fast enough to
be flown in F3F slope racing,
and durable enough to handle
general slope abuse, it's no
surprise that the Blade 2M
Carbon sells out fast! You will
probably see one of these
DS'ing at your local slope, as
they are very popular gliders.
Incredibly stiff, the Blade 2M
Carbon will satisfy the cravings
of the hard
rods that use threaded rod
ends (which are included). The
hardware bag contains aileron
horns and V-tail ball links,
plus the required steel metric screws for wing and tail
mounting. a single HS-5245
servo for the tail group (or
similar), HS-5125 flat wing digital servos for
core performance enthusiast. The kit
comes with carbon fiber push-
the
ailerons, and flaps.
Page 4
The Blade 2 Meter Carbon
is available from;
Soaring USA
809 N. Glendora Ave
Covina, CA 91724
(626) 967-6660
Tips, Tech and Talk
Flutter, a quick fix!
Brian Laird
Flutter, I can only describe it as
the sound of failure. The builder
fails to adequately design or construct his glider and as a result a
control surface vibrates uncontrollably at high speeds. The
causes are many; slop in the lin kage, heavy control surfaces, slop
in the servo gears, pushrods
flexing, etc. Whatever the cause
the results can be devastating.
Sailplanes are often destroyed as
a result of control surface flutter. So how do you fix it? Well
the correct way is to eliminate
the slop, balance the control
surface or replace it with a
lighter one. When you are at the
slope however these may not be
an option. As a quick and temp orary fix I have found a couple of
methods that will often eliminate
the flutter until you can fix it
properly. The first and easiest is
to put a big #64 rubber band
around the wing and aileron (or
tail and elevator). This supplies a
pressure that stiffens the surface
and prevents flutter in most
cases. Yea you look like a bit of a
dork with a rubber band on your
wing but at least you can fly.
The second and more commonly
seen is to make a small counter-
balance from some wire and a
lead weight. Tape this to the
offending surface. These will
eliminate the flutter 95% of the
time and allow you to enjoy the
rest of the day. I use small oval
fishing sinkers that weight 1/4 or
1/2 ounce. They have a hole in
them that I slide a piece of steel
wire through. Then I squeeze it
real good with some plyers. You
might need a dab of glue too.
Then you can bend it like in the
picture and then tape it to the
tip of your aileron (or whatever
control surface is fluttering.
A counter-balance installed on a wing
tip will eliminate flutter 95% of the
time.
Exponential, what’s that?
Exponential is an adjustment to
the actual curve of how the inputs are given to the servo in
relation to how the stick is
moved. Without expo, the servo
gets exactly the same amount of
movement command per millimeter of movement of the gimbal regardless of the gimbal's
position (center, or extremes,
for example). Many modelers
use expo to soften the feel of
the model's response around
center to avoid over correcting.
The main advantage for us slopers is it allows us to have massive amounts of throw when the
stick is moved all the way yet
still have a controllable model
when making minor corrections
in normal flight. Without expo if
you set your model up with extreme control throws you would
have a difficult time making minor corrections without over
controlling it. Most computer
radios have exponential as one
of the settings. Find it and use it.
I use it on the ailerons only and I
set mine between 50~70% depending on the plane. It allows
me to fly smooth yet still have
blindingly fast rolls.
You’ve all seen the guy flying
pumps who is all over the sky
because he is trying to make
minor corrections but can’t b ecause he has no expo. Don’t be
“that guy”!
Think you’re fast?
In the last year the max DS
speeds have been going through
the roof. It was not too long ago
that breaking the 200mph barrier was the goal. Now 250 is
ready to fall and guys have their
sights on 300. I don’t know
about the rest of you but having
a sloper go 300mph just seems
wrong. What will the poor
power guys do when they find
out slopers are going 300mph?
Well there is a little work still to
be done. The record as of this
writing is “only” 249 by Kyle
Paulson flying a Mclean models
Extreme at Vincent hill in Southern California. You don’t need a
huge plane to go fast. The current 60” record is held by a
Nemesis at 184mph. Mickey Cra wley has hit 230mph with a 65” span
Velocity
Heck you don’t even need a composite plane to go fast. The top
spot for foamies is currently held by
Joe Wurts at 156mph flying a JW
wing from Bowman’s Hobbies.
The Dsing craze shows no signs of
dying down. The need for speed has
and always will be a drug as addictive as heroin. Like most addictions
it’s best to have a steady source of
income to pay for it. DS planes tend
to have life spans measured in minutes, before turning to the dark
side be sure to check your bank
balance.
Popular DS ships:
Mclean Extreme (current record
holder) Mclean Models 541-3890054
Blade carbon 2M and carbon
Mini Blade,
Soaring USA
809 N. Glendora Ave
Covina, CA 91724
(626) 967-6660
JW EPP Wing
Bowman's Hobbies
21069 Susan Carole Drive
Saugus, Ca 91350
888-296-1881
Page 5
Planes with short spans can benefit
greatly from a high exponential setting.
By Brian Laird
Greg Smith with his awesome
CSD F-20 sloper
A 1/3 scale Krause Salto gets a little motivation at the 2004 Soar Utah event
Eric Molsted with a modified
great Planes Lear jet
Tim Neja’s HF Models ASW-28
Mel Schwartzburg’s very cool
Minimoa, from a Krick kit
Ralph Roberts scratch build this
Buggatti R-100 from EPP foam.
Every other year the Intermountain Silent Flyers (IMSF)
host one of the premier slope
events in the US and they call
it Soar Utah. Pilots from near
and far gather just south of Salt
Lake City for 4 days of slope
flying at some of the most
spectacular sites in the country. Soar Utah is another excuse for me to meet up with
old friends, make new ones
and check out the latest and
greatest slopers.
The event started on a Friday this year with a trip to a
new venue. The site is called
Butterfield Canyon and it is
located above the worlds largest open pit copper mine. The
view from the 9000’ foot
mountaintop is spectacular,
unfortunately it was hidden by
clouds most day. These
dumped rain and even some
snow on us from time to time.
After a few hours of this the
decision was made to return
to the Point of the Mountain,
the main slope site. This
proved to be a good move as
the winds were straight into
the hill creating great lift. The
temps were still in the low 50s
but that was a good 20 degrees
warmer than at Butterfield
Canyon.
The Point is a long ridgeline
that juts out into the Salt Lake
valley. The ridge is about 300’
high and steep enough to make
fetching a downed plane interesting.
The official event started
Saturday morning with a 9:30
pilots meeting where CD Tom
Hoopes went over the rules
and explained the scale competition. Soar Utah is primarily a
fun fly but a scale competition
is included and adds a little
friendly rivalry to the event.
Awards are given in three categories, Modern Scale, Vintage
Scale and PSS. Each plane was
judged on a set of maneuvers
that is flown and this score is
added to a static score.
The wind on Saturday didn’t show up until about noon
and when it did arrive it was
blowing the wrong direction.
Fortunately this slope site can
be flown from either side. This
did require packing up the cars
and driving over to the north
facing side of the slope. It took
about an hour to get all the
pilots and equipment moved
but it turned out to be the
right call. The lift was good all
day until very late when a huge
rain squall rolled through indicating to the pilots that it was
Page 6
time to head off to the banquet.
The Banquet, awards ceremony and pilots raffle are held
in a local park on Saturday evening. The weather was nearly
perfect for this and the location allowed for some electric
flying before the meal was
served.
Sunday morning dawned
sunny and warm with a gentile
south breeze blowing. I arrived
at the hill just after 9am to find
the sky already full of gliders.
This day the wind was blowing
from a more typical southerly
direction. Most of the pilots
took advantage of the ideal
conditions to get in as much
flying as possible.
On Monday the host club
took the remaining pilots up to
Francis Peak. This 10,000’
mountaintop overlooks the
Great Salt Lake and surrounding areas. The view from the
slope is worth the trip regardless of the lift. This is alpine
soaring with booming thermals
coming up the mountainside.
The site is ideal for large models and a big scale ship cruising
past is a sight to behold at
Francis Peak
The Author’s Me-P1101 going for
it’s contest flight
The Inland Slope Rebels pit area. One had to tread carefully around here. 5 cars, 9 pilots and 70+ planes!
There were some new and
interesting models this year.
Eric Molsted from Seatle Wa
drove down with a couple of
great looking civilian PSSers.
The first was a modified Great
Planes Learjet. The second
plane was scratch built Aero
commander. Both planes had
outstanding finishes on them.
The Aero Commander fuselage is built up from balsa and
glassed. The 67” span wing is a
plywood sheeted foam core
with a SD6062 profile.
Ralph Roberts from Southern California brought a 60”
span Buggati R-100 racer to fly.
The model was scratch built
from EPP foam and is covered
in Solartex. The plane flew
quite well and was really unusual looking in the air with
the vertical stab hanging down.
The plane weighs 62 ounces
and has a wing loading of 18
oz/sqft. To get a nice smooth
finish Ralph covered the EPP
with a mixture of lightweight
spackle and white glue. This
was sanded smooth prior to
covering the model with Solartex.
Greg Smith had one of the
coolest looking PSS planes at
the event. He took a CSD F-20
and painted it up with tiger
stripes of the Swiss Air Force,
Tiger Meet. The CSD kit
comes with a detailed fiberglass fuse and foam cores. The
cores are sheeted with wood
and can be either glued to
bolted to the fuse. This is a
very popular kit with the west
coast PSS guys and there were
at least 6 of them at the event.
Another really popular PSS
kit was the CSD P-63 Kingcobra. There were close to a
dozen of these and a couple of
those were electrics. Three of
these were mine. I have two
that are slopers and one electric. Kevin Huckins modified
one with a clear canopy and
what a difference that made.
There’s nothing like seeing a
pilot when the model zips past.
They just look so much less
like a model when there is
someone in the cockpit.
The winner of the PSS contest was your author flying a
highly modified electric kit of
the Me-P.1101. This was a prototype jet fighter the German’s
were developing in 1945. It
eventually flew as the Bell X-5.
The model has a fiberglass fuselage and a carbon bagged
wing using the RG-14 airfoil. At
48 ounces this little rocketship
sports a 21 oz/sqft wing loading making it joy to fly but a
nightmare to land. As anyone
who saw my landing on Saturday can attest to.
On the scale front there
were many fine models. Tim
Neja brought a great flying
Mibo Swift and a 4 meter HF
Models ASW-28. Piloted by
“cookie monster” the ASW-28
made it’s maiden voyage on
Saturday afternoon. The plane
flew great and Tim had it ripping up the sky.
Mirko Bodul drove in from
the Midwest with a gaggle of
high end gliders. In addition to
his racers had had a couple of
nice scale models. He flew
both his Gerasis 3M fox and
EMS ASW-15B.
Lenny Keer took first place
in the scale contest with his
Nibus 5.2M. This model featured a very non-scale motor
in the front which pulled the
very large glider up like a
rocket motor.
There were some nice Vintage ships there too although
less than in previous years. Mel
Schwartzburg won the peoples
choice with his Minimoa built
from a Krick kit. Tom Hoopes
won the vintage contest with
his Northrop Primary glider.
There were quite a few DAW
Ka-6s flown, in fact there always seemed to be at least one
in the air at all times. These
are available once again
through Sky King Models.
Soar Utah is not just a scale
event and there were some
beautiful slopers flown. There
were a multitude of the latest
and greatest sailplanes to
check out. Don’t let the fact
you don’t own a scale plane
keep you from attending the
next one in 2006!
Page 7
It’s big, it’s white and it flew great
Tom Hoopes’ primary glider won
the vintage class again.
Robert Cavazos readies his P-63
electric on a windless Saturday
There were lots of DAW KA-6s
at Soar Utah.
Greg Smith’s Pixel rips past
Product Review
The Storm
By Tim Neja
I’d been looking for a new F3F style
of glider to begin racing with the
local SCSR- (Southern Calif Slope
Racing) club. I did not want one of
the traditional V-tail designs that
are so popular. I wanted a conventional or “cross-tail” design. I met
with Bob Breaux of Soaring USA
and found the “Storm”, a 3.2 meter
all molded F3F / F3B race plane
that I thought would fit my needs
nicely for both racing and sport
flying.
The wingspan is 126” with an u nballasted weight around 78oz’s. it
has full house controls; aileron /
flap/ elevator / and
rudder. Airfoil is the
HRV 453 with
ballast tubes in the
wing that can
hold up to
48ozs depending on the
material you use for the ballast slugs. The wing is all hollowmolded with a carbon layup and a
large full-length spar. The wings
are two-piece and very strong. The
joiner is a very stout solid square
carbon bar— and there will be a
steel version available soon for
additional ballast! And oh yes, a
cross-tail design with a unique
strong mounting system.
The construction and finish
are really superb. It has
beautiful ‘in the mold’
painted designs, no
stickers here.
joiner for a perfect fit. Install one
bolt and the cross tail is in place.
There is a elevator joiner that runs
through the installed bell-crank
assembly in the vertical fin. That’s
about the extend of the actual assembly work
The radio tray is supplied to mount
your radio gear in. I used the new
Multiplex Polo Digi 4 servos for
elevator and rudder and 4 of the
Hitec HS5125 digital wing servos
to actuate the flaps and ailerons. I
drove these with a Multiplex r eceiver and my new Royal Evo 12
synthesized radio. This fantastic
radio will fill my needs for any type
of plane for a long, long time.
I fit my servos into the supplied tray then glued it into the
fuse and hooked up the wire
pushrods. In the wing I glued
the aileron servos right to the top
skin. The flap servos are glued to
the covers, then screwed to the
wing for a very clean installation. All the flap
actuating
All the moving surfaces are skin
hinged and gap sealed and the control rods are factory installed for
elevator and rudder. There is
plenty of room for your radio gear,
batteries and nose weight for balancing.
hardware is enclosed within the
wing making for a
very clean wing. The
servo wiring runs through
the supplied channel into a traditional 4 pin multiplex connector
that is installed in the wing root.
The other half of the connector is
mounted in the fuse and plugs into
the receiver. Once you’ve connected the servos to the surfaces
and programmed the radio you’re
ready to fly. I took about 4 hours
to assemble but I did have to make
my own wiring harness. You could
order a Hoopes harness and not
have to bother with that either.
Assembling the plane really
comes down to installing the radio
gear as all the wing panels and tail
pieces come completely fitted with
alignment pins already installed.
Just slide the wings together on the
Flight Time, where the fun really
begins! I had the opportunity to
head up to Mammoth Mountain for
one of the scheduled SCRC F3F
races. This is a beautiful Alpine
style soaring site above the Mam-
moth Mountain ski lodge. After
arriving and seeing all the other
F3F planes flying I was ready to go.
I quickly surveyed the landing zone
before having Bob Breaux launch
the plane for it’s maiden flight.
Straight out, no trimming necessary, the plane flew great right out
of his hand. Soon I was ripping
around the sky and most of the
other pilots landed to watch this
beautiful new glider rip it up. Unballasted we could tell it has the
potential to be very fast. It flies on
rails with no bad habits, it’s very
good in the turns and easily climbs
out with just a little camber dialed
in. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to
race it. I broke a servo arm by
landing with the flaps
down and did not
bring aspare
(Doohh!!).
I’m
looking
forward
to getting this
plane out and
racing with the F3F
boys very soon. It’s
really fun for sport flying
and quite agile for it’s size. It
handles light wind well and
“storm” winds as just as
well especially with a
full load of ballast.
With flaps coupled
Tim launches the Storm at Skyline in the Corona Hills.
The wing joiner is seriously
stout
to the ailerons
it rolls well and is very stable and
easy to slow down for landings. If
you’re looking for a F3F race plane
or just a large sport ship take a
look at the Storm. The Storm is
distributed in the US by Soaring USA
Flap servo detail, Flaps are bottom hinged for max throw.
Specs:
Wingspan
126” (3.2M)
Airfoil
HRV 453
Wing Area
990 sq.in
Wing Loading
11.3 oz/sqft
Weight
78 oz
Controls
Ail/flap/rud/elev
The large hatch to access the
elevator linkage is a nice feature.
The Storm is manufactured by Valenta Models and distributed in the United States by
Soaring USA.809 N. Glendora Ave, Covina, CA 91724 (626) 967-6660
Page 8
Product Reviews
The Good
Mini Falcon
Sold by F3X the Mini Falcon is a small
molded sport sloper. With a diminutive
30” span we’re not talking about a contest plane here. This little rocket is
made for fun and not competition.
The kit contents are typical for this
type of kit. You get a fuse, a canopy, a
wing, a V-tail and a small bag of linkages. The wing is stout
and feels as
though it
would go right
through anything
it hit. The parts
are well
made
considering the low cost of the plane.
For the Mini falcon you will need three
micro servos. One for each aileron and
one for the elevator. A small reciever
and battery pack are also required
although the fuse is not as tight as
many of the small slopers you might
have seen. The build is very typical.
Glue in the wing servos. Mount the
servo tray in the fuse and install the
elevator servo in it. Install the control
horns and hook up the linkages. Balance it where noted program your radio and then go fly.
you can get em for $100 each!
Composite Specialties (F3X.com)
2195 Canyon DR # D
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
1-949-645-7032 ph.
The finished
weight
comes in
around
15 ounces.
The flight performance is superb. It’s
no floater but give it a
good slope and decent wind and you
can a have a
blast with this
little bullet..
Kit Contents: A few well fitting parts make for a
plane that is in the air quickly with little fuss.
The cost for the Mini Falcon is less
than a night at a ball game. $129 each
but get 9 buddies to go in with you and
The Bad
AMD SU-35
This has got to be the worst
flying plane I have ever had the
misfortune of taking for a spin
(literally). To be honest I have
not built one myself. I have
fondled the raw kit and just
judging from the poor quality
of the contents I doubt I would
build it if I had it. The fuse is
paper thin and made of something that looks like fiberglass.
The wings are pre-made
sheeted foam but sheeted with
who knows what. It’s not balsa.
I’ve flown two of these dogs
and they both felt much more
comfortable on the ground.
Calling them aircraft is a
stretch because air is one place
these things don’t stay long. If
you can get one of these
beauts to fly for any length of
time you are a special kind of
pilot. I tried but the best I
could manage was a couple of
barely under control passes.
The plane just did not want to
fly regardless of what we did
to it. We tried several CG
locations, throw amounts and
control surface settings. One
plane was destroyed before
getting it flying the other we
just finally gave up.
Even if designed well the SU-35
would be a difficult subjet to
make fly well. The tail is too
short coupled. There are three
flying surfaces to align although
one (the forward canard) is
molded to the fuse. No mention in the instructions of correct incidence angles for all
these parts. The box top
quotes the airfoil as and MH22 which is a decent choice for
The AMD Su-35 Super Flanker is without a doubt the worst flying
glider I have ever flown.
a PSS ship. The plane has a 40” span and is 37” in length. Flying
weight is listed as 32 ounces. The two I flew were close to this
weight so I will assume the specs are accurate.
It’s a great looking plane but unless you want it as a static display
model leave this pig on the shelf.
Page 9
Shop Talk
Carbon and Kevlar, when and where to use it
When working with composite
sailplanes you have many choices
of materials you can use. But
what is the best use for each of
these. There are places you
should use certain materials and
there are places where there use
is a waist of money.
Carbon Fiber is used when
stiffness is needed. It is best
suited for use in wings and spars.
You must use epoxy resin with
carbon and you should try to get
as much of the resin out of the
material once it is wetted out.
The less resin and the tighter the
fibers the stronger the part will
be. Vacuum bagging will increase
the strength of a carbon part as
it sucks out the excess resin and
compresses the fibers closer
together. Carbon is stiff but brittle so it does not do well in impacts. As a wing skin it works
great and will produce very light
and stiff wings. The leading edges
though are still prone to damage
due to it’s brittle nature. Carbon
can be used in fuselages but it is
best to use it in conjunction with
Kevlar.
with because of the black color.
It is difficult to tell when you
have the material fully saturated
with resin. You must be careful
and ensure that you get resin
into all of the cloth when working with carbon fiber.
Carbon comes in many many
different styles from unidirectional fibers in a roll to woven
cloth in various styles and thic knesses. The most commonly
used are the standard cloths in
thicknesses of 3.5oz to 6oz.
Kevlar is used when you want
tear or break resistance. It is
often used to help stop tail
booms from breaking. It is also
commonly used as a flap and
aileron hinge material in bagged
and molded wings. It would also
be a great material to apply to a
leading edge although I don’t see
this being done. Probably b ecause Kevlar is nearly impossible
to sand and/or cut. Kevlar is
often used around wing saddle
or hatch cutouts to help reduce
cracks or splitting in these areas.
Carbon is a little hard to work
Kevlar does not add much stif fness but it is very hard to break
it. There are drawbacks to using
Kevlar too. It is a little hard to
work with requiring special tools
to cut it and it costs much more
that regular fiberglass. Kevlar can
be a little hard to work the resin
into. Like carbon fiber you must
be sure to get it fully wet. Excess
resin should be removed by
scraping or using paper towels
to absorb it. Kevlar is commonly
used in much thinner thicknesses
than carbon fiber. It is also more
commonly used in narrow tape
form. 1.5~2oz tape 1’ wide is the
most commonly used size. You
can get Kevlar in wider sizes but
it is not easy to find and it’s very
expensive.
Kevlar cloth, the same stuff bulletproof vests are made from. Used to
add toughness to fuses and certain
ACP Composites
357 Stealth Court
Livermore, Ca 94551
925 443-5900
The Composites Store
CST (cstsales.com)
800-338-1278
Carbon fiber is commonly used in
wings and tails. It adds stiffness but
does not do well in impacts due to
it’s brittle nature.
EPP, how to make it smooth
How do you get a smooth finish
on an EPP plane and why do you
want one. First off the smoother
the finish the better the plane
will fly. Less drag equals more
speed. It also will allow you to fly
in less lift. So it’s important to
get
those
foamies
smooth
and keep them
that way be
shrinking your
covering back
down often.
smear on a nice thick coat of
lightweight spackle. (you get it at
any hardware store, make sure it
is the lightweight!). Let this dry at
least 24 hours then sand almost
all of it off. If you have any bad
areas repeat the
process in
To get a smooth finish takes a
little more time and effort but
you will be rewarded with a better flying plane. First step is to
shape and sand your fuse. Once
happy with the shape you should
those
areas. Do the
same with the wing.
Once you build it and have
added the spars, servos, wood
and stuff you should apply a a
coat of spackle and sand it when
dry. You should have a nice
smooth looking and feeling plane
now. Spray a light coat of 3M-77
spray adhesive onto the EPP.
Apply your strapping tape one
strip at a time. Iron the
strapping tape down as
you apply it with a cove ring iron set at low
temp (150~160
degrees). This will
shrink the tape, get any wrinkles out of it and help it stick to
the EPP. Ironing the strapping
tape is important. Try to get it as
smooth as possible. If you mess
up a piece remove it and fix it.
Once this is done you can
apply your final covering
of choice and you
should have a very
smooth looking finish.
Page 10
A shaped fuselage ready for a coat of
light weight spackle.
The finished product. Spackle helps
get rid of that “foamie look” making
the finish almost as smooth as a wood
kit. (Leading Edge Gliders P-51)
Lines, Lines Everywhere!
By Carl Maas
Panel lines are one of the coolest and
simplest accents that you can add to a
slope glider, especially a Power Scale
Soaring (PSS) glider. Panel lines add character and detail to an otherwise bland
paint scheme. They can be done using
several different techniques. Here are
three such techniques that you can easily
accomplish on your next project.
Technique 1 – Inked panel lines. The focus of this method is to paint the plane
with the final colors, whether shiny bright
colors, or camouflage military colors and
then apply the panels to the finished
paint.
Use a Sharpie brand ultra fine permanent
tip black marking pen. This provides for a
very fine line, which goes down well and
looks great on smaller gliders. If you want
a wider line then go to the fine or medium tip pens.
You will need the marker, a flexible plastic ruler, a rigid long ruler and a circle
and / or square drafting templates (for
access panels, fuel caps, etc.). The rigid
ruler is for the long wing panel lines, and
the flexible ruler is for the curved fuselage panels. The circle and square templates can be used for the access panels,
and fuel ports. Use the sharpie marker to
layout the long wing panel lines first, then
mark the cross-panel lines next. Do the
fuselage using the flexible ruler, and then
final detail with the templates.
Technique 2 – Scribing panel lines. This
method requires that you paint the entire
plane silver. You then paint the plane with
the final camouflage colors. After the paint
has thoroughly hardened, use a sharp
pointed scribe, or the back of a X-Acto
knife to scribe the panel lines thru the top
coat of paint into the silver, leaving a nice
weathered looking panel. Silver panel lines
look really great on darker colored paint
schemes, such as navy blue, dark grays or
greens. Dark lines look better on light
colors such as light gray, silver or white.
Apply the panel lines using the same layout
techniques and using the same tools as
inked panel lines.
Technique 3 - Etching panel lines
This method is very similar to the scribing
method, except that the etching of the
panel lines and details are done in the
primer, and then the painting is done over
the etched lines. You use small files or and
hard tool that can etch lines into the
primered surfaces. After all the details are
complete, and the painting is finished, you
can mix a “wash” of thinned black or silver
paint, and then gently rub the wash into
the etched panels. Always wash using a
soft cloth, and wipe in the same direction.
Clean the excess color wash off the
painted surfaces, to reveal the recessed
panel line details. This technique produces
much more subtle details on the plane, but
look very realistic.
Lines drawn with a marker look best on a light
colored finish.
Scratched lines look best on a dark colored finish
such as this Hellcat.
Whichever method you choose, practice
first, and you may find a whole new world
in sailplane detailing that just might amaze
you and your friends. Enjoy!
Etched lines will work with nearly any type of
painted finish but are much more subtle.
Page 11
How to Find the CG
Carl Maas
Stop! Before you throw that
slope machine….
Before you go and throw your
beauty off the treacherous cliff
of doom, let’s talk about Center of Gravity. Establishing the
Center of Gravity (CG) is one
of the most important steps
that you need to check before
that first test flight.
Here I will describe the basic
method I use for calculating
the C.G. on a glider with a
standard tail planform. (Noncanard or delta wing).
First, measure the wing root
chord dimension “A”. Next,
measure the wing tip chord
dimension “B”. Add “A” root
chord length to “B” tip chord
length, and then add “B” tip
chord length to both sides of
root chord “A”. Draw a line
across the new chord points as
shown. Where they cross, this
is the “Mean Average Chord”
or (MAC) see dimension “C”
in diagram.
Take “C” (MAC) length
times .25 (25%) to get 25% of
the average chord. C*.25 =
“D”
At the MAC, Measure back
from the Leading Edge distance
“D”. Put a mark at this point.
Do the same on the opposite
wing panel. Flip the plane over,
and check the balance at this
point. Once the plane has been
test flown at 25% of MAC,
then you can move it as required to get a precise flighttested balance point. Most
planes will end up closer to
30% but much depends on the
size of the tail and the tail moment. So start at 25% and
work your way back
A
C.G.
B
D
B
C
A
D
A
MAC
B
Balancing tips:
If Your plane is a low wing model such as a P-51 Mustang then balance the
plane upside down. Balance it so that the horizontal stab is level.
Balance high wing planes right side up but also make sure when balanced
the stab is level.
Or you can just log onto the
Inland Slope Rebels web site,
and use our on-line C.G. calculator!
Don’t forget to balance the plane laterally (side to side). If one wing is slightly
heavier you can add lead tape to the other wing tip to balance it. Lead tape
can be found at most golf shops. Sticking a nail into the light tip may also
work or make a small hole and glue lead shot into it etc..
www.inlandsloperebels.com
2005 Spring PSS Festival
Entry form
Name
Address
Phone#
AMA#
Email
Entry Fee
2005 PSS Festival T-shirt
(sizes L, XL, and XXL)
$17.00 ea
Size
Qty
2005 PSS Festival Sweat Shirt (sizes L, XL, and XXL) $25.00 ea
Size
Qty
Total Enclosed
Mail entries After March 1st, 2005
Entry Fee $20.00 (you will also need an Adventure Pass from the Forest Service.)
Make checks payable to Richard Teller.
Mail to; Brian Laird 12935 Lasselle St. Moreno Valley, Ca 92553
E mail; [email protected]
Entries Fee is $25.00 after May 1st.
No Refunds
Page 12
$20.00
Places to Fly
Southern California is blessed with a multitude
of different flying spots. We are also cursed with
a booming real estate market, well at least as far
as flying goes. This boom is devouring many of
our sites. This year another one of the inland
sites has fallen victim to the earthmovers and will
soon be dotted with hundreds of homes.
We do have some hope though. There are
quite a few slopes located on public lands that
should survive the building boom. This is why it is
so important to take care when flying these sites.
We must behave ourselves, be the perfect users.
Our use of public lands can be restricted or even
banned. Let’s not forget what happened to Torrey Pines. I have seen pilots dump all the trash
from their cars onto the slope before driving
home. Crunching up your crashed p lane and
throwing the bits over the edge as a sacrifice to
the wind gods is not the answer either. Behavior
like that could get us kicked out of the few slopes
we have left. Think about things like this when
you are at the slope. If you see trash, pick it up.
Take your broken planes and empty cans home
with you. Don’t mix your epoxy on the park
benches (yes I’ve seen this done too!). Try not to
harass the other users of the sites. Yelling at the
picnickers, joggers or dog walkers will not endear
you to the locals or the city councils.
One of the best slope soaring sites around is
Point Fermin Park in San Pedro. Just a few miles
from downtown Long Beach this place is home to
the hardcore PSS junkies. This slope is not suited
for beginners or guys that want to just float
around. If however you feel the need for some
serious speed then Point Fermin might just be the
place for you.
The slope is roughly 200 feet high and is a
shear vertical cliff. Depending on the tide the
water can be directly below you or just a few
yards offshore. If it’s directly below crashing is a
wet and expensive endeavor. The flying is usually
fantastic with silky smooth lift and a cool ocean
breeze. Landing however is another story all together. The landing field is a cross a 4 lane road in
a field surrounded by palm trees and a chain link
fence. Once you get the hang of it and get past
the initial “you land where?” it’s actually pretty
easy. Point Fermin is a busy park so use good
judgment when flying there and whatever you do,
don’t try to land your plane in the park.
To get to Point Fermin take the 110 fwy South
until it ends. From there take Gaffey St until it
ends in the park. The flying site is at the far
West corner of the park.
A site that receives little attention and is
actually pretty good in many respects is Little
Mountain in San Bernardino. This hill sits just
off the 215 fwy and can be flown in a normal
westerly or a Santa Ana (north) wind. The hill
is about 500” high and fairly steep. There is a
good dirt road that takes you right to the flying
site. The hill is free from trees and bushes but
does have an ample supply of small rocks that
can ding your plane. The lift is typical for an
inland slope with light to moderate winds and
good thermal activity. Light to medium weight
ships do well here so leave the Fermin sleds at
home. The locals fly mostly combat wings and
there is usually a few there mixing it up on
weekends. Landings are very easy hear as the
hill has a nice rounded top which produces few
rotors unless you go way back. You don’t want
to go way back though because there is a
power line behind the slope. On the to of the
hill the locals have even provided a small carpeted area for landing that is very easy to hit
especially if you have flaps.
This slope has very good potential for ra cing. The lift is better most days than at say
temple hill and it hits the slope at a more d irect angle. The easy access and easy landings
should make it more popular than it is. It’s
main downside is the heat and smog in the
summer months (flying season) which can
make flying unbearable.
The Santa Ana side is not quite
as good. The wind often hits the
hill at an angle producing screa ming fast passes from North to
South and slow bumpy passes
going the opposite direction. Of
course the fact that you can drive
up and fly may offset this drawback.
To get to little mountain exit
the 215 fwy at Mt. Vernon and go
east to Little Mountain Dr. Go
North. Just after you crest the top
of the hill there is a dirt road on
the right. Take that to the top. Fly
at the towers in a Santa Ana and
just south of the towers in a regular westerly wind.
As you can see Fermin can get crowded but it’s usually not too bad.
Page 13
Top: Dan Schramm’s Gulfstream launching in
the PSS slope race at Little Mt, San Berdu.
Bottom: A good shot showing the primary
slope. No trees, no boulders and a decent
landing area makes this pretty good slope.
2005 Schedule of events
Event
Date
Location
Los Banos Scale fun fly
April (TBD)
Los Banos
International Slope race
May (TBD)
Davenport, Ca
Tri-Slope Six-Pack
May 20~22nd
Tri-Cities Washinton
Dieter Mahlein (541) 954-6842
[email protected]
PSS Festival
May 27~29th
Cajon Summit,
Bernardino, Ca
Brian Laird
[email protected]
Midwest Slope Challenge
June 9~12th
Lake Wilson, Kansas
[email protected]
Carnage at Cajon (Combat)
June 23rd
Cajon Summit
Brian Laird
[email protected]
Point Fermin park
Brian Laird
[email protected]
Point Fermin Pot Luck and Fun Fly August 20th
Contact
San
A complete slope racing schedule can be found on the American Slope Racing Organization’s website at, www.sloperacing.com
Slope Soaring Gallery/Hall of Shame
The Warbird Slope Race Winners:
Carl Maas, Tim Neja, Ralph Roberts &
Brian Laird
The Kids Division Winners from the
Combat at Cajon event.
Gotta make sure to keep those batteries topped off!
Tim Neja and Carl Maas Sr. chuck the
Big B-29
Some Photo’s really don’t need a caption!
Ok….how about “Jack Cooper in 80mph winds
at Whitewater”.
The sound of 2 moldies hitting is not
one you want to hear very often!
Mitch Schwartzburg, winner of the
Craftsmanship award a the 2005
PSS Festival with his Gaurdian.
An Acacia 3 racing at White Point, Ca
I hate it when that happens!
A P-51 floats off Pt Fermin.
The group shot from the 2004 International Slope Race, Davenport Ca.
Page 14
Editorial Brian Laird
My favorite Toys
I’m a bit of a freak when it comes
to my modeling. I actually prefer
to design and build my own
planes rather than buy things off
the shelf. So few “off the shelf”
items fit my personal style of flying. I do buy products now and
again that I either can’t make or
would not want to put the time
into making. I buy my scale gliders, most of my slope racers and
my thermal duration ships.
My favorite style of slope soaring
is still PSS. It’s hard to beat the
CSD warbirds for looks and performance. I do still scratch build
planes for contests like the PSS
fest but for every day flying it’s
hard to beat a CSD Aircob ra or
F-20. Whether you build em light
or build em heavy they just fly
great.
I don’t own a ton of moldies but
for the money it ’s hard to beat
the Mini Blade (MB) or the Banana from Soaring USA. I do en-
joy flying my MB but wish I had
gotten a carbon one with a stiffer
wing. I currently only have one big
moldie and it’s a little dated but if I
had a free pick I think I’de have to
go with a Wizard Compact.
Recently I have been bitten by the
scale bug. Don’t fret I’m not going
to become a “scale weenie” showing up at the slope with my $2000
glider and never flying. I will fly
mine and they will never cost
$2000.
Foamies, love em or hate em they
are a fact of life on the slope. I have
quite a selection to choose from
sitting in the garage but I still tend
to grab my glass planes. The
foamies are fun to bash around and
if kept smooth and straight they can
fly quite well. My old LEG P-51D
still flies great despite me pounding
it into the hill at terminal velocity
on several occasions now.
Having tried just about every radio
(except JR) on the market I have
fallen in love with the Airtronics
RD-8000. This radio is “slope
perfect”. It’s light, the switches
are robust and it’s super easy to
program. The later feature is a
big plus for first time computer
radio operator. Oh did I mention
it’s relatively cheap too!
For support equip I am really
loving my new Shulze charger
which will also cycle my batteries
for me. I still have an old AstroFlight 110D that performs great
but does not cycle. I use the
Shulze at home and the 110D at
the slope.
My CSD F-20 is one of my favorite
PSS gliders. No surprise there!
My Kestrel wind meter is a cool
device. It’s really great to actually
know what the wind speed is. No
more of this “man it was blowing
like 60mph”, now I know.
What’s next? I dunno, but I’m
sure I’ll find plenty of places to
spend my extra cash this coming
year. See ya’ll on the slopes!
My favorite radio is the Airtronics RD8000. For ease of programming and
price you just can’t beat it
Disclaimer. The material in this publication is the opinion of the editor and may or may not be 100% accurate. Every attempt is made to get the info correct
but you know how that goes. Info and/or pictures may be “borrowed” from other sources as required to make a point. Hey what do you want for free? Enjoy!
Page 15