- This topic has 12 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 10 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I am just about done with my first DLG.
I built one of Stan Buddenbohm’s Twirly Byrd 36″ kit. The kit is fantastic, straightforward and well done as all of Stan’s stuff is. Everything you need, including lead weight and viscous fluid DT is included in the kit.
The kit wood was very nice light C-grain. Wing and tail wood was sawn to taper, so very little rough shaping was needed. All up weight of this 36″ glider will be less than 80 grams.
The only modification I made was to add carbon to the top and bottom of the wing. Probably not needed, but I think it adds to the all important coolness factor…
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge.)
As received:
As built:
Next to one of my ‘tiny’ 23″ outdoor gliders…
~Jim
The pictures didn’t post. Too bad, I’d like to see it!
With all these folks twirling around, the launch area, or “pig pen” will have to be expanded!My problem with DLG’s is my own ineptness. Never had an arm, and absolutely no hand-eye-arm coordination. Always chosen last for the pickup baseball games in the neighborhood (married a cheerleader tho, he he he :-)).
I tell my pilot students that I prove the rule that anyone can fly an airplane if I can.
When I do spin training, there is one road junction out in the boonies I always anchor over when entering spins. That way, I don’t get lost when the world is rotating outside the windscreen.
I have done CLG’s and managed to blunder into a win at KOI, but these take absolutely no motor skills to fly.
Still, I can’t help wondering if I should try.
I really like the gliders, especially with the super-zoot butterfly tails, but would probably get lost spinning around and wobbling all over the launching pen.
Dean, did the pictures show up for you?
I changed the picture links to clickable thumbnails. You should be able to click on them to enlarge in a new window. Bill let me know if this works.
I can’t tell from my computer here at work. I think the firewall has them blocked. I’ll check from home tonight.
Thanks,
BillGotcha, spin training, fun stuff:)
Seems like you need to build one…DLG is sweeping the nation. We have 70 year olds flying them, 80 year olds building them, and people throwing with a broken collar bone maxing out with them.
How far off can a rules change in HLG be if dead air flights of 90 seconds plus become the norm? Maxouts will be plentiful, almost EASY? Imagine HLG going into more rounds than the gas classes to determine the winner. What do you do, start limiting rotation to 180 then 90 degrees to make the maxes progressively harder? I am joking…I think.
The Twirly has flown! Sunday night the winds were dead calm and my smaller local field seemed fairly dry, so I decided it was time to give that thing a shot.
Launch #1, light spin launch, gained about 40 feet, stalled and nosed into the mud.
Launch #2, harder spin launch, classic barnstormer loop stalling over the top.
Launch #3, concentrating on making the glider cross my body to get a left-right transition rather than a straight ahead stall; I got a marginal transition and a glide.
Launch #4, getting somewhere! This thing does not look bad! Kind of loopy still, I decide to take out 1/2 turn of incidence and grab the video camera.
Launch #5 was on camera, and shown in the video, it Dt’d with altitude at about 30 seconds! This could be fun.
I continued on and got in about 30 launches with no ground-stuckos after the first two. I have vid of #5 through about #15 before the tape ran out and it really got to dark for the camera.
After that it was really dead damp honest crumby air. I decided to wind in about 2 minutes on the DT and start putting a bit of effort behind it to see what this bird will do on a watch. My last three launches of the night were all between 60 and 70 seconds! That is a real landmark for outdoor HLG.
I tried for years to build an *honest* 60 second outdoor JL glider. It is harder than it sounds. Sure my indoor gliders are honest 80 second gliders, but the lack of weight, decalage, dihedral and DT makes them useless outside. Once you make those changes the time goes down in a hurry. I could not believe that in my first outing with a DLG I was breaking 60 seconds.
The transition is not *dialed in perfect * yet, but it is not bad. I am sure I am only at about 75% of the launch effort I could do as well. I am still a bit scared to let it all hang out. I will be more comfortable with that though soon. I can foresee this thing being a 90 second dead air model once I get the transition and technique down. Back when I was learning to really throw JLG, dad would give me a glider and bet me I could not throw the wings off to see if I was throwing as hard as I could. I learned at a young age to put *everything* into the javelin launch. It is going to take a bit of practice to get that level of comfort with this.
However this thing is fun, it whistles and gets up there in a hurry! I was literally laughing once I started leaning on it a bit, it is that fun. Other than a 1/2 turn of incidence removal I made zero trim changes in all the flights. Stan has a very well set up glider here.
The technique will certainly take some getting used to and experimenting. I had a very long run-up in my JLG throwing, which was part of my mental routine. I picked a spot on the horizon, ran the same number of steps towards it every launch, and hurled. You cannot pick a spot on the horizon in this game. I am working on a mental count as I round the 360, similar to the three step bowling approach, but in a circle. Now I know why Stan compared his first throws to a troll dancing on stump.
Enjoy the video, this thing is a blast!
~JimAnother note about Stan’s kit…
I have had some correspondence with Stan. He wants to make it clear that this model DOES NOT need the carbon on the wings, which I added on my own. He has tested these airplanes thoroughly and they survive rigorous flying as designed and kitted. Stan’s goal is to provide a simple low-tech building but great performing kit that will encourage people to try DLG.
My modifications are certainly not meant to be improvements to Stan’s fine design, they are just personal preferences I had while building. Stan’s kit is a well tested known performer out of the box. If you get a kit, build it per plans and you will not be disappointed.
~Jim
Mr. B,
Another inspirational piece of cinema! Kudos! (Sorry! The Acadamy continues to refuse my request for a “FF Rock-u-mentary” category at this year’s Oscar’s. Kudos wil have to do for now!!)What an exciting time to be a glider fan! It’s really something to see a glider that size get “zinged” into the sky and then transition into that sweet searching decent. It is truly a beutiful thing!!
Thanks for the motivation!
~jAnI cannot beleive how fun these are. Throwing a glider this big higher than a JLG makes one feel like a super hero. I was unsure how this would effect HLG at first, but I think this is really going to give HLG new life.
This is the newest launch video, which I have been using to get some feedback from Kimball and others since I am flying alone out here in Ohio.
I know you had a DLG at the 2006 NATS but did not fly it, will you be flying one in 2007?
~Jim
By the way ask Don about the short-shorts he was wearing at USIC ’90 next time he makes fun of your Drive it Home shirt.My brother Bert and I had a blast on Friday at last year’s Nats! (I know…a day late and a dollar short…literally! But you know me, I’m at my best on Monday’s, outside the pen, and after the competition has ended!) This day was probably one of my favorite days on a FF field….ever!
No pressure! Just hanging out with my brother. Within earshot of my father! Flingin’ this new found fantastic! Amazing green grass and glorious blue skys! We had started to crack the DLG code. We enjoyed some really great flights, and a whole bunch of smiles and laughs!
I had arrived at the dance with 2 new and untested DLGs. One was my design which was “sent to the showers” early in the week (squirley right off the board; wimpy boom and not enough Vertical area). The second was a Spin-up 36 built from a Sting Aero kit. A great design.
By Friday I had lurked around the pen and stalked Mr. Kimball enough to have learned a few lessons! (ask Bert about the clandestine .mpg movie of Bruce that we studied!) Seeing that glider bank left into that blue sky, then throw on the brakes and just gliiiiiiide! What a blast!
Sorry man!!…that was the long version of ….”oh yeah, I’ll be flying a DLG in 2k7″!! (I’m just getting excited about flying this year!) Of course we’ll still be using the traditional dance steps in Old time HLG!
I have some stills and vid clips from that Friday. But the files are huge. I’ll need to find a way reduce the data size before I could share them. (any suggestions?)
By the way, short-shorts are going to be the secret weapon for the Nats! A good way to keep people at a safe distance when the spinnin’ begins!
~jAn
r)1WfDg~~_12.jpg)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.