GliderIreland - Ireland RC Forum - Flying Model forum in Ireland
Gliders => Slope Soaring => Topic started by: Fred on January 14, 2013, 10:06:14 AM
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Ok, once in a while, I suffer from nostalgia... :oops:
In the past few years, I hunted down, and bought "my first" thing...
Few years back, managed to find my first wood kit, A Graupner Piper cub (FF), then, my first CL plane, a Pulsar from a plan in "the encyclopedia of Flying Models" of 1979...
And now, after a few years of looking in the internet, managed to put my hand on my first glider that allowed me to discover my first ever thermal!
That was back in 92 or 93, was doing some bungee launches at the flying field on a hot day, pretty unsuccessfully, when I received the best advice ever... You fly too close to you, move away, far, scan the airspace!
And did my first thermal flight, lastest 45 minutes, all that from a low start :D
Anyway, enough with my life :lol: After all these years, quiet by accident, found a brand new TT Explorer, still in the box, absolutely untouched in Germany. Order made straight away of course, received within a week, and finished yesterday after an hour of work :D
That brought me back!
(http://www.gliderireland.net/forum/images/uploads/Fred/IMG_2831.jpg)
(http://www.gliderireland.net/forum/images/uploads/Fred/IMG_2832.jpg)
(http://www.gliderireland.net/forum/images/uploads/Fred/IMG_2834.jpg)
And the finished product :
(http://www.gliderireland.net/forum/images/uploads/Fred/IMG_2837.JPG)
First launch this week end if the weather cooperate!
Fred - Happy :)
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Not so difficult for assemble it??
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Nope, did it with the girls :)
Wings panels to glue together (epoxy 90secs)
Glue the elevator / rudder (epoxy 90secs)
Servo tray (cyano)... And done for the build!
:D
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Wonderful job ^^
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That'll be a nice light wind slope or bungee model Fred.
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cool :wink:
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Ohhh, nostalgie, quand tu nous tient.......
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Best of luck with the weather! :clap:
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Superbe construction Fred !
Ha, l'Explorer ! Avec le nez en plastique qui s'éclate avant même de rencontrer le sol, tellement il a peur ! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Par contre, ça vole super bien, c'est vraiment idioprouf !
Grosses bises
Frédéric
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:lol: Yep, that's the one!
Forget the crappy Canopy, plastic wing tips that will explode at first impact, shitty covering (some sort of sticky plastic)...
But best model ever! (in a memory point of view :P )
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I built my Explorer 2m probably 15+ years ago and never flew it till last spring. Life was busy and rc had to take a back seat. Got back into rc last spring and learned again after mounting a small brushless motor. It lived a rough life last year and suffered a few crashes due to my inexperience. Finally put it on the shelf after the last mishap snapped the tail off and folded the wing. So I finally got around to stripping the old covering off and repairing all the damage. I'm now waiting on a calm day. Yours is the first one I've ever seen outside of mine. btw--I'm a far better pilot now--still have much to learn but at least now I can get one up and back safely!
(http://www.gliderireland.net/forum/images/uploads/beemerider/xplorer1.jpg)
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Hi Beemrider,
Welcome to the forum :D
Nice re-covering on your Explorer :clap:
I leave mine original, in pure nostalgia, even if this is probably some of the worse covering material I have ever saw on a glider! :lol:
After a few years flying mine, I had a go at electric power (after one of my club member was experimenting with an Electra).
Mabuchi 500 and 8 Nicad cells.... And could barely fly! :lol:
Converted back to glider, and finaly destroyed it when I had my first ever servo failure on the elevator :( :(
I think with yours, we might be the last 2 who are actually flying this thing! :lol: :lol:
Looking forward to hear about your first flight :D
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I thought I was pretty much ready till a couple days ago. (Thanks for the compliment btw) but you'll notice I didn't post any "close up" pics. My rebuild won't really stand a close inspection. Kinda like some girls I once dated--they looked good from a distance! :D
Anyway two days ago I noticed in my haste in reattaching the tail (I had snapped it clean off twice last summer) I didn't pay close enough attention and put it back with -2° incidence on the stabilizer. No good flying weather here yet so yesterday I went ahead and covered the bottom of the stab with thin cardboard and took a hacksaw blade and cut it free from the fuse. My plan is to reset it later today. I'm kinda sorta "retired" and I no longer get in any hurry with any project. Most guys I reckon would have had this done long ago.
Somewhere around here I've got some pics from last summer flying this thing in all it's original "glory", once I find them I'll post 'em. btw--what does your Explorer weigh? Again I used to have this thing's AUW but I can't find that either. Right now it's 924 grams (no battery). I'm curious as to the weight difference after the work. The original covering seemed to be pretty heavy compared to monokote. I flew this before with a 3s2200, 1300kv, and 8X4 prop. I would fly for about 25 minutes and have about 60% battery left.[/i]