Dynamo 1.5 M, a great inexpensive E-Glider

[FAI-F1D]

Hobby King has had this bird on sale for while. Looks like a killer deal for a really nice glider. Jason Cole did a review on it over on rcgroups, and in the video it was abundantly clear that it runs rings around the Radian.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__78954__Felipe_Vadillo_Designed_Dynamo_Glider_Balsa_1500mm_Red_Yellow_ARF_AR_Warehouse_.html

epic fail on my part. I know full well that's not a DLG, and didn't even notice that I had done that with the title. To be very clear, it's regular thermal duration glider/e-glider.

 

[Craftydan]

Looks like a pretty little woodie, and probably a sweet high-start plane . . .

. . . but 20mm motor? Inrunner? on 3S? throwing a 10x6?

I don't see how HK isn't smoking something (illegal and/or electronic) without an unmentioned (and hard to find) gearbox inbetween

Perhaps it's why the poor thing is on sale -- trying to pass off a nice glider as an e-glider with a nose that's crazy hard to mount a motor in.

 

[FAI-F1D]

Looks like a pretty little woodie, and probably a sweet high-start plane . . .

. . . but 20mm motor? Inrunner? on 3S? throwing a 10x6?

I don't see how HK isn't smoking something (illegal and/or electronic) without an unmentioned (and hard to find) gearbox inbetween

Perhaps it's why the poor thing is on sale -- trying to pass off a nice glider as an e-glider with a nose that's crazy hard to mount a motor in.

Agreed. It does, however, fly very nicely on a 20mm inrunner, though, aa Jason demonstrated. Absolutely unlimited vertical to put it mildly. It'd be way better with a gearbox of course.

 

[kevparang]

I mean you could take any plane and just shut the motor on it and it will become a glider like my F949 for $50.

 

[FAI-F1D]

I mean you could take any plane and just shut the motor on it and it will become a glider like my F949 for $50.

Uhm...not sure what one is supposed to make of this comment.

Let's look at it this way: this model, fully loaded, will climb out in light, tight thermals right off the deck, and will do so in thermals so small that even a Radian can't hang onto them, and it's strong enough to dive out from way up without coming apart, and it's clean enough to come back from way downwind. All the above with the prop folded. Perhaps the distinction here is that we are talking about sailplanes and you're talking about gliders. Fair enough?

To get this level of performance elsewhere, you'd be looking at a $200 airplane. Well, $180, since that's called a Bird of Time.

 

[Craftydan]

I agree . . . but $50 is the cost of the empty airframe.

To do it right you're looking at another $40-50 on top of that for parts, assuming you've got a full range TX to go with it.

Still, a bargain for what it is, but don't confuse this with a Champ S+. It's a friendly plane, but it'll be fragile enough that it's not a great beginner plane.

 

[kevparang]

I mean like any good plane.

 

[Craftydan]

Every plane will glide. Not every plane will glide well. "Good" or "bad" has no bearing on how well it glides.

Some float fine without the motor spinning, some glide almost exactly like a rock, but they will all glide.

Multirotors, however, glide exactly like a rock

 

[kevparang]

I know, just saying, but some mutirotors have wings or are like a combination.

 

[FAI-F1D]

This is getting way off the topic. How is it relevant to soaring that a multirotor may or may not have wings? To reiterate, point of this discussion was to present a very low cost opportunity to get into soaring with a serious airplane.

To be blunt, kevparang, are you actually here to discuss soaring?

 

[CrashRecovery]

Hey rocks fly too!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Runs rings around the raidian you say? Heresy!

That's one of the better deals I've seen on HK though. If I was sold on motor gliders instead of DLG's I might have to pick one up.

 

[SP0NZ]

Can this be setup with an outrunner? I would almost be interested in picking one up if it could run an outrunner.

 

[FAI-F1D]

Sponz(es), yeah, it's possible to rig an outrunner for it. There's a thread on rcgroups showing how. Another slightly less economical option is the Fiegao 130S geared inrunner from Radical RC for $40. You could also mount an exposed Silver Wonder on the front without terribly hurting the appearance. The 3000 kv version with a 7x5 on a 2s 1000 would drag it up with authority.