I don't live near any slopes, but we visit our friends on the coast a few times a year, and there's plenty of slopes with the coastal wind there. I'm thinking of trying SS out, what do you think would be a relatively easy slope soarer to build/fly/transport?
A flitetest versa wing would probably make a good first plane that wont cost a bunch of money. You could either grab a 2200mah nimh pack for cheap or use a 3s pack with a ubec and throw 2 servos in. You will need some weight in the nose, even without the motor on the back. This is one of the great things about slopers, they are a lot cheaper to build with no motor, no esc, and a $12 nimh battery.
Another great thing about flitetest planes as slopers is that the clark-Y kind of sucks for sloping, but what that means is they dont get going very fast and so, assuming you have enough wind, they will fly fairly slow and predictably.
One of the things about slope soaring this is soo different from powered flying is you need a range of planes based off of the wind speed and site your at. If you really want to do this than i would suggest hitting up rcgroups or similar places and ask about slope soaring in that area. Find a local weather station and keep an eye on the winds so you get an idea of what speeds to expect.
I use this site and its been accurate:
https://www.windfinder.com
I strongly suggest posting in the slope soaring thread here asking about sites and or search for previous posts related to where you are going. Slope guys love sharing spots and helping eachother out. One of the better rcgroups thread sections, no jerks usually.
https://www.rcgroups.com/slope-97/
Another solution is to build planes as light as you can (so it can fly in light winds) but have a spot to put a bunch of lead.
I would say a zagi wing would be great as its relatively cheap ($65) is made of EPP (wont explode into popcorn on crash) and has a pretty wide range of flying speeds (5mph +). A Lot of guys will get steel or lead sheets from the hardware store and either cut them into rectangles to stack as many as they need to get into the faster air or fold them into rectangles and just tape them to cg depending on how windy it is.
https://zagi.com/product/thl/
My F-sst wing i built a little heavy as i painted it by hand. I fly it in about 12-20mph winds. 20 is really pushing it, its a fight to not get kicked out. Other builders say they fly theirs in 8-10.
If you want something Almost Ready to Fly than i would say a Weasel from dreamflight. its range is about 7-20mph and all the dreamflight planes break apart really easy and you just use the box it comes in as transport/storage.
https://dream-flight.com/products/weasel-trek
I usually bring my Dreamflight alula everytime as its good for like 6-10mph winds and than my planky 2.0 as it will do 12-15mph unballasted and than i can load it up with lead for 25mph+. The alula can be dlg tossed as well if you want.
Another option could be getting something like a Phoenix powered glider. It slopes really well but its got a motor if you get in trouble or there is no wind, at least you can powered fly around.
and finally i guess i would recommend confirming cg and throws/trim by hand tossing before you attempt at a cliff.
