Soar Ace (oz14338)

About this Plan

Soar Ace. Radio control slope soarer model.

Note this plan uses the Ace Pacer foam wing.

Quote: "A rugged, quick building slope soarer for modelers who don't have a lot of time, or money! Soar Ace, by James Renger.

When you look at the number of slope soaring, hand launch, or high-start glider kits available, you may ask yourself why you would want to build one from scratch. After all, most of the kits now available are high quality. However, the construction difficulty of some gliders and their price can leave something to be desired.

The Soar Ace is a 2-channel, multi-purpose glider that can serve as a slope soaring, hand launch, or high-start sail plane. It is inexpensive and very easy to build, looks great, and has outstanding performance. The Soar Ace can be built in a variety of ways to meet the specific tasks desired. It features a simple built-up fuselage and uses the Ace 'Pacer' foam wing kit. The Pacer wing is excellent for general purpose models and is readily available from Ace R/C.

Slope Soaring: For slope soaring, the Soar Ace can be built anywhere from very lightweight to moderately heavy. This lets you tailor the plane to the wind conditions of your local soaring spots. If the wind is light or the slope shallow, build the lightweight version, and the Soar Ace can stay up with the 'floaters.' Using Cannon Super Micro equipment and Micafilm covering, the weight is a mere 11 ozs. Yet, due to its aerodynamic shape, it had no problem penetrating in winds up to 20 mph on a 300' cliff.

The heavier slope version is better for higher winds (although the lighter version can fly in high winds, just not as fast or as precisely), The higher wind version can do this because it is heavier and smaller, so it can penetrate more easily. It has also been strengthened to withstand its added weight and the higher winds. Ballast can also be added to make the plane even heavier.

Two other ways that this plane can be flown are as a high-start or as a hand launch. Both versions are essentially the same as the light slope soaring version, with a few minor additions.

High-Start: To use this model on a high-start model. add a tow hook just behind the leading edge of the wing. Using a small Airtronics high-start, this glider can obtain launches up to 400 ft. It is an excellent aileron trainer and it is not a floater. When launching, be sure to launch the Soar Ace at a high angle and don't let the speed build too much or it will zoom off the line as the launch progresses. Keep the wing working, but not stalled, and you will get great launches.

Hand Launch: To turn the Soar Ace into a hand launch model, simply drill a hole to fit a 1/4 x 2 in dowel through both sides of the fuse, just behind the second bulkhead. On my glider, the dowel was not glued in, so I could remove it for other types of flying. The glider is capable of achieving an altitude of 30 to 40 feet on a good launch, even with no real practice.

The three versions of the Soar Ace, the light slope soarer, the high-start, and hand launch models can all be made from a single glider. The glider will still fly the same as it does in all the other versions, with the added weight of just one ounce.

Construction: Now that all of the configurations have been discussed, it's time to go into the construction detail of the two basic glider versions. The wing is basically built to the Ace Pacer's plans.

Slope Soaring Wings: There are several modifications which should be made. If you are planning to build the light slope-soaring, hand launch, high-start model, you should build wingtips to increase wing area and effective dihedral. This improves both the stability and the lift-to-weight ratio.

For the maximum slope version, the ailerons that come with the wings are too small (only 3/4 in), and it's a good idea to replace them with larger 1-1/4 in ones. This change will give you really exciting roll capability. If you are an advanced flier, it would also be a good idea to put the larger ailerons on the lighter weight version, if you do not mind the slight increase in weight.

High Wind Slope Soaring Wings: The assembly of the wing for the heavier, high wind slope soarer is different. First of all, the dihedral that is built into the Ace foam wings needs to be removed. This is accomplished by sanding the wings at their roots, before assembly, until the dihedral left in the wings leaves the top surface flat. The wing should no longer have an upward-angled appearance. There should be no added wingtips in this version. the plane will not need the extra lift in high winds and the wingtips would just produce drag and hinder the speed and roll rate. The larger ailerons mentioned earlier are mandatory for this model. If not used, the glider would not have enough control to be exciting.

To take the added stress of higher winds and a heavier fuselage, the wing must be reinforced. To strengthen the wing, apply fiberglass to it. Once the wing has been assembled, lay a strip of 4 oz, 1 in fiberglass tape onto the top of wingspan-wise, just in back of the balsa spar. Tip to tip after measuring, remove the strip, and cut to desired length. Then use a spray glue to make the foam surface of the wing tacky, in the area where the tape will be applied. After this is done, lay the glass cloth in position. Then use UFO thin adhesive (only use this brand of CA or else the foam wings will dissolve!) to bond the fiberglass to the wing. Repeat this process on the bottom of the wing. The combination of fiberglass applied to both sides of the wing stiffens it greatly..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Scan by MarkD, cleanup by Circlip.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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