Simple Soarer; Thoughts ?

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

I have been thinking of building the simple soarer. I am looking for thoughts. I have read past threads about this plane. I am looking for some new thoughts. I know that the plane is about 10/12 years old design. I would like to make it a powered glider with LED lights.

* Is anyone still flying this plane ?
* What changes would you make ?
* Has anyone added ailerons ?
* How would you change this plane ?
* Any thoughts about taking out the dihedral from the center section (making it flat) and only keeping the dihedral on the outer part of the wing ? No polydihedral.
* Changing the design of the power pod to give a better look for a powered glider
* What to you guys think ?

Open to all thoughts,
Al

 

[LitterBug]

I had a FT Tiny Trainer that flew for almost a decade. I have thought about doing the simple soarer to replace it, but I have SO many other unfinished builds right now. I am curious to see what others think too!

 

[alan0043]

I had a FT Tiny Trainer that flew for almost a decade. I have thought about doing the simple soarer to replace it, but I have SO many other unfinished builds right now. I am curious to see what others think too!

If you take the tiny trainer and make it to 150% you get something very close to the simple soarer. I did a little math on the tiny trainer. That is just my thought. I hope to hear from more folks.

 

[AIRFORGE]

Simple Soarer was my first FT build. For me, in original form it's a low wind only plane, and is a good 2 ch.
The wing is pretty weak. I added 3 mm plywood spars to the front/back of the foam spar in the center section of the wing. It's a noticeable improvement.

 

[LitterBug]

Simple Soarer was my first FT build. For me, in original form it's a low wind only plane, and is a good 2 ch.
The wing is pretty weak. I added 3 mm plywood spars to the front/back of the foam spar in the center section of the wing. It's a noticeable improvement.

Good to know. Sounds like I will build another TT at some point then.

I beat the living snot out of the Tiny Trainer my buddy's 6YO daughter built at FF '16. Cartwheels, bad CG, HIGH winds, over speed, etc... finally gave up the 👻 after tons of abuse. Tried to combat it at FF last year, but had an AR410 DSMX RX --> 4in1 TX radio disco early in combat which finished it off. (like 5 seconds in). It was already very flexy before dirt diving.

 

[Tree Feeder]

Why is building another plane even a question? Seriously, the simple soarer flies so gentle. If you add ailerons, then taking out the center dihedral is probably a good idea. I have 3d printed a motor pod for it with a simple monowheel landing gear that worked well, but if you are going for scale looks that will take lots of redesigning. You can even add flaps and independently controlled ailerons for some fancy mixing (crow braking,full span flaps/spoilers, etc.). Any large glider is a good thing to have around since they are so stable and easy to fly. Thermalling can also be fun.

Tree Feeder

 

[Foamforce]

I built exactly what the OP is proposing. I have a SS with a 2204 motor and a 7x5 prop. I have LEDs on all the surfaces except vertical stabilizer.

It’s pretty at night and flies gently. I never got the thrust angle adjusted to my liking. Under more than about a quarter throttle, it climbs like mad, but it doesn’t typically need much more than that.

I’ve never felt any need to have ailerons, it has plenty of authority with just rudder. Converting it to a motor glider was trivial.

One interesting thing I did on it was to convert a $3 push button LED controller into a remote operated one using a transistor and an output on my ELRS receiver, which was set to on/off mode. So now I can cycle the LED light patterns with a switch on my transmitter.

 

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

Sounds like there is an interest in this plane. I am slowing scratch building one. Bought my Adams foam board from Dollar General. Also want to do a little different looking power pod. I want the power pod to have the length of the glider nose. Before I finish the wing, I will install LED lights.

Please keep posting ideas and pictures if you have any.

 

[Foamforce]

Fwiw, I just cut the nose off at a slight down thrust angle far enough back that I could fit a reasonable sized firewall on there. It’s probably 2 inches back from the original front. I believe that I just glued the firewall to the front and wrapped tape around. There is no need for a power pod, that just makes it heavier and weaker, assuming that you’re not actually sharing the electronics with other planes. Also, an 1806 (a pack) is more than enough power for this. Lastly, with my build, it balances easily with a 2s 800 mah or 3s 850.

 

[alan0043]

Fwiw, I just cut the nose off at a slight down thrust angle far enough back that I could fit a reasonable sized firewall on there. It’s probably 2 inches back from the original front. I believe that I just glued the firewall to the front and wrapped tape around. There is no need for a power pod, that just makes it heavier and weaker, assuming that you’re not actually sharing the electronics with other planes. Also, an 1806 (a pack) is more than enough power for this. Lastly, with my build, it balances easily with a 2s 800 mah or 3s 850.

Thank you for the tip.

 

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

A little update. (4/28). The plan is to change out the orignal spar in the wing to the design used in the Scout or Tutor (u shape). I believe it will be stronger and give more room for the LED lights. Plus also add a wooden piece in the center to also help make it stronger. Any thoughts ?

 

[Foamforce]

Hi Everyone,

A little update. (4/28). The plan is to change out the orignal spar in the wing to the design used in the Scout or Tutor (u shape). I believe it will be stronger and give more room for the LED lights. Plus also add a wooden piece in the center to also help make it stronger. Any thoughts ?

Whether you need any changes depends on what you want. If you’re going to fly it like a glider, it’s plenty strong because the fuselage is very light. I didn’t make any changes and it flies just fine.

Regarding light placement, I copied the Night Radian and mounted the lights directly on the bottom of the wing and put a strip of white masking tape over it. That gave me maximum brightness. I’ll post a video.

 

[Foamforce]

 

[bisco]

that looks amazing!

 

[Tree Feeder]

I put a power pack F on mine which is much more than enough if you fly it as a motorglider.

 

[alan0043]

Thanks guys for the post.