RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING - 2005/03

RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING

Dave Garwood, 5 Birch Ln., Scotia NY 12302; E-mail: [email protected]

Three Slope Soaring events for 2005 have been announced as of this writing just before the winter solstice. The contact information for each follows, as do updates on two project airplanes mentioned in previous columns. Last, I have a list of sources for Slope Soaring kits and sailplanes in case you need a model or two for spring flying.

The Tri-Slope Six-Pack will be run for the second year at Eagle, Kiona, and Chandler Buttes in central Washington, May 21-22. This is an event for high-end composite and wood sailplanes; foamies are banned. For photos of the 2004 event and information about this year’s event, go to the ShredAir Web site at www.shredair.com.

The eighth Southern California Spring PSS Festival is scheduled for May 27-29—Memorial Day weekend—at Cajon Summit, California, in the San Bernardino National Forest. This event is capably staged by the Inland Slope Rebels. For information, go to the club’s Web site at www.inlandsloperebels.com.

The Midwest Slope Challenge (MWSC) was the longest-running Slope Racing series in the country, but it came to an end in 2004 after 11 seasons. The Lincoln Area Soaring Society (Nebraska) did a wonderful job of running this event throughout the years. The event’s venue—Wilson Lake—is too good of a Slope Soaring site to ignore, so the tradition and excitement is under new management and has been renamed “Wings Over Wilson.” The first WOW event will be held at Wilson Lake in Russell County, Kansas, June 9-12. For detailed information, go to the slopeflyer.com Web site at www.slopeflyer.com/mwsc.

P-40 Warhawk Update

My Leading Edge Gliders (LEG) P-40 was finished, painted, and flying in time for MWSC 2004, where there were seven of Jack Cooper’s excellent design. I mentioned this warbird in the August 2004 column as an example of today’s trend to fatten the fuselages and slim the wing chords to make bounceable EPP-foam models look more scale.

Jack has a gift for designing airplanes that look wonderful and fly great. He has worked out methods to bury the control-surface mechanisms inside the airframe, further contributing to the scale looks.

This Warhawk received a painted finish, mainly to get the featheredge between the camouflage colors looking right and for accurate color matching. Four New York Slope Dogs painted their P-40s alike and were pleased with the performance of the new aircraft colors of Tamiya lacquer paint, supplied in rattle cans. This is good paint.

The best part is how well these 60-inch-span warbirds flew: stable yet maneuverable. Everyone I talked to was impressed with the LEG Slope Soarers’ flight performance.

Jack makes the P-40 and other warbird kits in 48-, 60-, and 72-inch-span versions for foam combat, foam warbird racing, and general sport flying. Foam is looking better and better on the slope these days. My second LEG 60-inch-span warbird racer—a P-63 Kingcobra—is already on my workbench. See this and his other sailplanes at www.leadingedgegliders.com.

Kawasaki Ki-61 Update

My removable-wing DAW Ki-61, which I mentioned in the April 2004 column, was completed, and it flies fine. The three-bolt wing-attaching modification works as expected, and the dismountable wing makes transportation and shipping easier and makes storage more convenient.

The DAW 48-inch EPP-foam warbird kits are no longer in production. If you're looking for a similar glider, check with the companies listed near the end of the column.

The Ki-61 has an iron-on-covering warbird-decoration scheme. Mine was modeled after a design by West Coast OFB (old flying buddy) Dennis Duncan. I've seen matte-finish MonoKote in military colors advertised, but I have yet to try it. Reducing the gloss on the iron-on covering will improve a military camouflage finish's scale appearance.

Slope Sailplane Makers and Importers

Have you decided on a new glider to fly this year? Clear off your workbench and make some time available in your winter building schedule for one or more than 200 offerings from the following makers, suppliers, and importers. Note the two reference Web sites at the end of the list.

• Acme Flying Machines — High-performance composite Tempest and Cyclone. www.acmeflyingmachines.net
• Aerofoam Radio Control — F4U Corsair foamie, F-15 Eagle foam slope jet, HoseMonster bungees. www.aerofoam.com
• The Birdworks — Steve's RC Gull is a one-of-a-kind Slope Soarer; I love my Zipper. www.harborside.com/%7Ebirdworks/bwhome.htm
• Bowman's Hobbies — The original EPP foamie (Roughneck) became the Comanche—one of my current favorites. www.bowmanshobbies.com
• California Sailplanes — I've flown Steve's own Giant EPP F-20 Tigershark; it really looks the part. www.californiasailplanes.com
• Combat Wings — Highly developed slope combat wings. www.combatwings.com
• Composite Specialties — Large number of high-performance molded F3B, F3F, racing, and sport sailplanes. www.f3x.com
• Composite Systems Development — Legendary line of Slope Scale fiberglass warbirds and slope jets made from new molds. www.rcglider.com
• Falcon Air RC — Scale sailplane designs in EPP foam. www.falconairrc.com
• Hobby Lobby — Scale Slope Soarers and specialty materials. I use a lot of Iron-On Carbon Fiber tape. www.hobby-lobby.com
• ICARE Sailplanes — An increasing number of sailplanes from Canada. www.icare-rc.com
• Liftworx — Red Herring compact traveling Slope Soarer. www.liftworx.com
• Mach I — Joe Cormier's custom-built, fast, composite Mach I Slope Racer. www.mach1performance.com
• Maple Leaf Design — Well-known source for advanced designs and quality gliders. See especially the Image and Icon. www.mapleleafdesign.com
• MC Composites — Brian McClean Extreme—a 249 mph Dynamic Soaring (DS) sailplane. www.mccomposites.com
• MM Glider Tech — EPP-foam gliders, cutting and vacuum-forming services. www.mmglidertech.com
• Mike’s Models — Large Scale Fox seen at Wilson Lake. www.midwestslope.com
• Mountain Toys — Beech 17 Staggerwing—one of few slope biplanes—and Gentle Foamy for beginners. www.mnttoys.com
• Niagara Frontier Models — Check out the Viper. Kurt has just taken over the Dream Catcher line of kits. www.nfmodels.com
• North Country Flying Machines — EPP Slope Soarers, including Moth and Bluto. www.northcountryflyingmachines.com
• North East Extreme R/C — Mike Baker’s exceedingly cool sidearm-launch Saber DLG works as well on the slope. www.stocker.rchomepage.com
• Patton Aircraft — Fast EPP slope warbirds, including a P-51, P-39, Ta 152, and Me 262. www.pattonaircraft.com
• Plane Insane Models — Andreas Merger does advanced CNC foam cutting for his kits. I saw his Hurricane at the Northeast Electric Aircraft Technology Fair. www.planeinsanemodels.com
• R&R Model Aircraft — Unusual sailplanes, including eight flying dinosaurs. www.randrmodelaircraft.com/Pterotec.htm
• Richter — Small EPP wings—Weasel-pro, miniWeasel, Alula. www.dream-flight.com
• ShredAir — Importer of ultra-high-performance slope and DS sailplanes. www.shredair.com
• SkyKing RC Products — Ed Berris produces DAW designs, including the 1-26 and Ka-6E scale foamies. www.skykingrcproducts.com
• Slopeflyer.com — Sells several imported composite sailplanes. I’ve flown Greg Smith’s own pivot-wing Pixel, and I like it. www.slopeflyer.com
• Slope Scale — Sells legendary high-performance Power Scale Soaring (PSS) models. I have four of them with receivers mounted. ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/slope_scale
• Soaring Specialties — New home for the venerable Doug Buchanan BAe Hawk. www.soaringspecialties.com
• Soaring USA — Has many high-performance Slope Soarers; check out the Crazy Banana. www.soaringusa.com
• Steve Drake Models — Gulp DS and Gulp SR EPP-foam wings. www.stevedrake.com
• Tuff Planes — Performance EPP-foam Slope Soaring and DS designs—wings and warbirds. www.tuffplanes.com
• Up Slope Sailplanes — Light- to medium-lift Slope Soarers, some tip-launched. www.upsopesailplanes.com
• Vortech Models — Jeff Fukushima has introduced a new fiberglass warbird or slope jet each year for the last 11 years. www.geocities.com/vortechmodels
• Warbird Slopers — WW II PSS fighters, and even a C-47 Skytrain, designed for extreme lift at Point Fermin CA. www.warbirdslopers.com
• Windrider Aviation — The EPP-foam Bee is a solid, versatile combat wing. It has won combat events at Wilson Lake. www.windrider.com.hk/index.cfm
• Wing Warrior — Raider combat wing. www.wingwarrior.com

Reference lists:

• Fatlion — Comprehensive list of Slope Soaring kit links. www.fatlion.com/sailplanes/slope.html
• La Sierra Slope Soarers — Wide-ranging roster of Slope Soaring kit reviews. www.lsss.homestead.com/ReviewIndex.html

As I complete these lists of events and suppliers, a Beach Boys song keeps running through my head. It goes, "Well, I been thinkin' 'bout all the places we surfed and danced, and all the faces we've missed, so let's get back together and do it again."

Order a kit, get it built, and see you on the slope in the spring.

MA

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.