Post by gd on Dec 24, 2013 10:50:32 GMT
Greetings all. I hope this board will be a success.
I am Greg from Kalispell, Montana in the USA. I started flying RC Sailplanes a long time ago (1979) in Colorado. In 1985, I took a hiatus from RC to let life happen. In 2004 I was in the LHS in Longmont, CO when I (impulsively) purchased a Hangar 9 Aspire EP 2 meter glider with an electric motor in the nose! It was a brushed 480 sized with a 3:1 gearbox, a little folding propeller, and used 7 sub-C NiCad batteries. All up weight was about 2 Kg (4.5 Lbs). On top of that (literally) I mounted a full size digital camera with a servo glued to the top to activate the shutter. It was a challenge to catch a thermal with a 2 meter sailplane weighing more than 5 Lbs. But... it put the bug in me (again). Next up was the Parkzone Radian which I flew (and repaired) until they started to fall apart.
Fast forward 10 years to the present, and I now have half a dozen or more sailplanes, most with 'winch in the nose' (electric motors). I live in a beautiful area, 15 miles from Glacier National Park, 50 miles from the Canadian border where Alberta and BC meet. Flying season around here lasts only 6 months or so (April - September). I have to drive 4 hours to Helena (state capital of Montana) for the closest ALES competition put on by Curtis Suter's club - the Helena Flying Tigers. Quite competitive, and they have a 2 day ALES challenge in late July that is starting to attract attention from all over. Very nice guys.
The other 6 months of the year are building season. So far this winter, I have almost completed an Art Hobby Sierra 2.5 meter sailplane (I converted it to 'winch in the nose). This is my second Art Hobby plane and they fly beautifully (built/flew the Evolution 2.5 this past summer). Quite reasonably priced, but need quite a bit of work to get flyable. Art Hobby calls these planes 'ARF'. I call them 'ARB' - almost ready to build. Art Hobby is headquartered in Billings, Montana (8 hrs. from here). Check them out at arthobby.com .Also in the queue is a TopModel CZ Grafas 3.1 meter, and an older kit called a Quasoar, 3 meter, beautiful fiberglass fuselage, sheeted balso foam core wings (thinking about changing the sheeting to Obechi or Poplar plywood.
Check out my Youtube channel for lots of aerial video from Kalispell, Montana.
Kalispell, MT - Birth of a dust devil. Amazing lift! If you can keep it in one piece.
--
Greg
I am Greg from Kalispell, Montana in the USA. I started flying RC Sailplanes a long time ago (1979) in Colorado. In 1985, I took a hiatus from RC to let life happen. In 2004 I was in the LHS in Longmont, CO when I (impulsively) purchased a Hangar 9 Aspire EP 2 meter glider with an electric motor in the nose! It was a brushed 480 sized with a 3:1 gearbox, a little folding propeller, and used 7 sub-C NiCad batteries. All up weight was about 2 Kg (4.5 Lbs). On top of that (literally) I mounted a full size digital camera with a servo glued to the top to activate the shutter. It was a challenge to catch a thermal with a 2 meter sailplane weighing more than 5 Lbs. But... it put the bug in me (again). Next up was the Parkzone Radian which I flew (and repaired) until they started to fall apart.
Fast forward 10 years to the present, and I now have half a dozen or more sailplanes, most with 'winch in the nose' (electric motors). I live in a beautiful area, 15 miles from Glacier National Park, 50 miles from the Canadian border where Alberta and BC meet. Flying season around here lasts only 6 months or so (April - September). I have to drive 4 hours to Helena (state capital of Montana) for the closest ALES competition put on by Curtis Suter's club - the Helena Flying Tigers. Quite competitive, and they have a 2 day ALES challenge in late July that is starting to attract attention from all over. Very nice guys.
The other 6 months of the year are building season. So far this winter, I have almost completed an Art Hobby Sierra 2.5 meter sailplane (I converted it to 'winch in the nose). This is my second Art Hobby plane and they fly beautifully (built/flew the Evolution 2.5 this past summer). Quite reasonably priced, but need quite a bit of work to get flyable. Art Hobby calls these planes 'ARF'. I call them 'ARB' - almost ready to build. Art Hobby is headquartered in Billings, Montana (8 hrs. from here). Check them out at arthobby.com .Also in the queue is a TopModel CZ Grafas 3.1 meter, and an older kit called a Quasoar, 3 meter, beautiful fiberglass fuselage, sheeted balso foam core wings (thinking about changing the sheeting to Obechi or Poplar plywood.
Check out my Youtube channel for lots of aerial video from Kalispell, Montana.
Kalispell, MT - Birth of a dust devil. Amazing lift! If you can keep it in one piece.
--
Greg
