Sailplane Blast from the past- revisiting the Gentle Lady

[Pancake]

Been feeling nostalgic. When I was 11 I built one of these and used an old car radio to fly it. Must have climbed the local hill 1000 times hand launching for a 30 second flight! Mine eventually died when my dad and I folded the wing doing auto-tows in an old field by my childhood home. I remember trying to control the fuselage all the way down! Almost hit my dads car. The wings took literally minutes to float down!

I've been wanting to build something easy, and give myself something fun to float around with, so I searched around and bought this beauty for $61 shipped from Advantage Hobby.

Went together just like I remember, except the kit is not as nice as the old die cut one. Parts don't fit as well, but it could be much worse!

 

[Pancake]

The wing came together in about 6 hours. Lots of irregular ribs, different weight balsa, loose tolerances, and the plans were about 1/4" off from the root to tip of 1 panel. Every panel ended up a little different, but some sanding should make everything alright. Had to add 1/4oz of lead to the starboard wingtip to balance the wing. I did take about 1-1/2" of polyhedral from the tips. Even with rudder only this thing should turn fine!

 

[Pancake]

With modern technology winches and hi-starts seem like too much work! Plus, I've ballasted one of these gliders before and with a little weight they get on step and range like much higher performance sailplanes.

I decided to throw in a turnigy brushless motor I had laying around and bought an APC folding prop for it. I had to widen the fuse a bit and add some extra balsa on the nose to fair the spinner into the square fuse. Made the plane about an inch longer than stock. Depending in CG I might throw a couple mini servos in the tail, or an F-86 style air brake.

 

[Pancake]

It's nice seeing it come together- building from the instructions and misaligned plans is more stressful than I remember! Don't want to make any mistakes! Modifying the nose for the motor and spinner was much easier for me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do lol! If I had to do it again, I would have started with 1/4" thick balsa top and bottom in the nose area instead of building up 1/8" layers.

I don't know if this is really a Gentle-Lady anymore. Might have to give her a sassier name.

 

[pawnshopmike]

Cool project bro. And great job modding for the motor. It looks factory!

 

[Pancake]

Thanks. I managed to cover up my first attempt at fairing the top of the spinner into the hatch area. Looks like crap right now, but I'm going to fix it next trip to the shop.

 

[BalsaDust]

looks great. I have wanted a GL for some time.

 

[thepamster]

Wow Cody! This is awesome. I hope you plan on using some transparent covering on this "not so gentle lady", that's too long a name, glider. Lol.
I still have one with some hanger rash that every now and then I think about electrifying it. I never did like going to fetch the high start and walking it back in the Texas heat at that.

 

[Pancake]

LOL, Pam I feel you pain! How about "Sassy Lady"? I am going with transparent red and yellow. Just like the one I flew as a kid except it was opaque! Yellow tips and horizontal stab. Might put some yellow just inside the polyhedral on the bottom of the wing so when the sun shines through it's orange. That's the plan anyway.

I'm only able to get away for a few hours in the "shop" each Saturday. It's a 30 minute drive, and even with the 4KW Generator powering our 8 ton A/C it's 90-95 in the shop, but at least it cuts the humidity! Working out of a storage unit isn't the best, but it'll do for now. My buddy TEC is supposed to send me some parts I need, but so far he's been unable to get to the P.O.

 

[thepamster]

Sassy Lady sounds like a great name for this plane. Mine has transparent red on the wings. I think I need to get mine down from the rafters and find some sort of inspiration from your build here.