Let's talk about chuck gliders

[NighthawkGliders]

I just had to post this...

Grandadisanoldman is a YouTube channel of which I watch quite regularly... In fact, he was our 2nd subscriber when we started Nighthawk Gliders more than a year ago. He regularly comments on our videos and he has crafted a countless number of homemade airplanes (rubber-powered, catapult gliders, toothpick gliders, helicopters, what have you, etc.) He's into salvaging RC electronics, doing science experiments, flying kites and the list goes on and on... literally thousands of videos! I'm sure some of you guys already know him. If you want to build something that flies (on a super-cheap budget) Grandad's probably already done it!

Anyway, I thought I'd share his video of a Sandpiper 12 he built and flew... I think he did a great job!

Share the love and give this man some views on this video, would ya? Thanks!

 

[FAI-F1D]

I've been following that channel a loooong time. He's definitely getting better and better at building and flying. It's really good to see. Also, great that y'all got a shoutout. We need to get y'all past that 1k subs mark.

 

[foamtest]

I couldn’t agree more with you, this new YouTube 1k thing is a pain. The good thing though is that it’s driving us to push to 1k.

 

[FAI-F1D]

Ok so a couple things:
I wasn't able to attend, but the Kent State contest was absolutely awesome. Kurt Krempetz set two national records in catapult glider (Standard and Unlimited) with his state of the art models. Jim Buxton and his son Ben both set national records in the F1N hand launched glider class flying very traditional javelin launch models (52 sec and 37 sec, respectively). Nice job guys! Jim is a member here, by the way, under the username "jim_buxton" and he is one of the greatest glider fliers who have ever lived. Here he is flying Mitsuru Ishii's incredible indoor DLG:

Also, I've been doing quite a bit of evening flying of my own chuck gliders, but I was given a very nice model from the guys at Nighthawk Gliders. Here's my first video featuring that excellent airplane:

 

[foamtest]

I wish I was able to go to Kent but I was too busy with work, now I really wish I could have gone...
I also wish school didn't block YouTube

 

[FAI-F1D]

We're long overdue for some updates. First off, the Super Carbonette 8 went live a few weeks ago:

Additionally, the Fliplock is now available. Here's the build video:

Now for something different. I've been wanting to introduce a dethermalizer equipped glider since we started J&H Aerospace. At last that dream is about to come true. Check this out!

This is a REAL dethermalizer!

I like how this turned out:

Please note super duper cool catapult handle by Spunz, I mean SP0NZ. 3D printed awesomeness. My wife hates it, but I love it.

And boy does it fly!

 

[FAI-F1D]

After three months of development efforts, the Swingshot has finally passed all the developmental milestones and the build video is finished. You can now enjoy a nice flight video, and you can purchase one if you wish to join me in the R/C rocket craze. It's not an aerobatic model like the Carbonette, but it makes up for this in being one of the easiest to fly R/C models ever. Basically it's the Switchblade XP without the underpowered nonsense. The acceptable power range is about as wide as you could ever hope for.

Flight demo:

Build video:

 

[FAI-F1D]

We decided to go backwards. No, really. And we made a big thing of it. Ok, enough puns.

Both of these are boost gliders, although the little one does seem to make a pretty decent chuck glider. I was able to get hand launched times around 20 seconds without much work, which is actually quite good. No idea how it would do as a catapult glider.

I've also launched the little one. How did it fly? Well, we'll be releasing a kit, that's how it flew.

The big one was developed in response to numerous requests for a D engine capable glider. Honestly, I've never launched a glider on anything stronger than an 18mm C, so this should be...interesting... I'm fairly confident it'll hold together for launch, but not so sure I'll ever see it again.

 

[FAI-F1D]

Texas scale maestro Mike Kelly posted this video of some fun catapult gliders. These are really nicely painted up as scale models. Check it out!

 

[FAI-F1D]

Here's another fun trick for trimming bigger gliders. It's also super fun!

 

[FAI-F1D]

This is the latest innovation in chuck gliders. I wouldn't consider it to be some huge groundbreaking thing, but it does bring a lot of ideas together on one airplane, for an affordable cost, and you don't have to order with a check and an envelope. Behold, the Carbonette 19 CLG:
http://jhaerospace.com/product/carbonette-19-catapult-glider/

As part of the product support, Hope and I did a complete trimming tutorial on this model that will hopefully provide insight far beyond just this product:

And there's more. Some of you have never heard of FAC Jet Catapult Scale competition, but it's a thing, very similar to the foamboard jet chuck gliders floating around on this forum. They can be made to fly really well, and now I've got a kit available for one that I've found to perform excellently (video of that coming soon). Here's a build video that will hopefully inspire y'all to either try your own or order the kit:

 

[FAI-F1D]

We were able to get a few ok flight demos in between my littering the trees with my various gliders. So have a look:

 

[FAI-F1D]

I've been informed that Science Olympiad will be switching back to "Elastic Launched Glider" for the 2018-2019 competition year. Since I was planning to release a Wright Stuff kit this year, I'm going to pursue an ELG kit instead. Here's a first pass at Protege, which will probably be the first ELG kit to feature a full carbon fuselage. Assuming the rules don't get rewritten so as to ban that. Time will tell...

 

[FAI-F1D]

Whelp, I got it built. Test glides and airplane noises across the living room look good.

 

[FAI-F1D]

Here's a video of the model flying, and me bemoaning how terrible I am at flying it:

 

[earthsciteach]

Let's talk about hand launched gliders! Stephen Wrigley gave me a beautiful set of wings and tail for one. Here are the specs:
Wingspan: 160 mm
Root Chord: 60 mm
Wing configuration: polyhedral with break at root and 54 mm outboard. Planform is elliptical with straight trailing edge.
Estimated wing area: 7680 mm^2
Max thickness of wing @ 20 mm from LE (do not have caliper to measure thickness)
Wing mass: 0.97 g

Horz stab span: 74 mm
Root Chord: 38 mm
Configuration: flat, elliptical, straight TE.
Estimated horz stab area: 2110 mm^2

Vert stab height: 25 mm
Vert stab chord: 38 mm
Estimated vert stab area: 712 mm^2

Tail feather assembly mass: 0.25 g

I just need a stick to attach them to. Any suggestions on mass/length of stick, mass distribution of stick, placement of wing/tail feathers?

 

[FAI-F1D]

I'd recommend a fuselage 8" long. Leave 2" protruding out the front. You could, of course, use a 3/32" carbon tube and sand down the back of it to a nice gradual taper. Were it balsa, I'd start with 1/8"x1/2 balsa and taper it to 1/8" sq at the tail. Round of the nose, done.

Oh, and that's hard balsa. Don't use the light stuff.

 

[FAI-F1D]

In other news, I started a thread elsewhere but figured it's relevant here too. Nighthawk Gliders have started an arms race by releasing a massive new catapult glider:

And I decided they needed some competition in this field!
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/big-balsa-chuck-glider-carbonette-36.54689/

 

[FAI-F1D]

Ok, I may have jumped off the deep end this time, but it's worth it. @Ground loop and I teamed up to produce the most insane scale catapult glider ever. Behold, the Caspian Sea Monster!

Perhaps the most incredible part is that this piece of utter insanity actually flies!

 

[BadWallaby]

Aww man I love these gliders! @NighthawkGliders been watching your YouTube today and really want to make a glider! I’ve had a similar rubber band launched glider but it wasn’t nearly as quality as these! Do you guys have a web site? I haven’t been able to find anywhere to buy a kit and I’ve seen they have some packaging on them but maybe im not looking in the right places 😂