Apogee Sport (oz15061)

About this Plan

HLG. Radio control DLG model. Wingspan 40 in.

Discontinued kit from ECM.

Note see the (now defunct) ECM website at: https://web.archive.org/web/20110519060421/http://flyecm.com/

See also kit instructions with colour photos online (as asp pages) at: https://web.archive.org/web/20100411210621...

Quote: "Introduction: In 1999, Dr Mark Drela of MIT revolutionized the world of RC sailplanes by creating a series of airfoils that were designed specifically for the task. These airfoils quickly replaced the scaled down versions of full-scale aircraft that had been used with some success. Within 2 years of their introduction, the vast majority of competition class hand launch planes were using these airfoils.

Along with the airfoil designs, Dr Drela also published plans for a number of sailplanes using new construction techniques and materials to create planes that were extremely light, strong, and floated in the slightest bit of lift.

The SuperGee and Apogee planes quickly grew in popularity as the sport of hand launch gliding took off in 2000-2001. These planes performed extremely well, but their success was limited to those who had the skill and materials to create their own wings, tailfeathers, and pod to meet the design goals for weight and strength.

With the release of the Apogee 400 in 2005 and now the Apogee Sport from Enduro Composite Models, anyone with intermediate building skills can put together this high-performance glider.

The ECM Approach: ECM has tried to maintain not only the properties of Mark Drela’s original design, but the model assembly methods as well. Some things have been changed to either simplify construction or for production, but much thought has gone into this so not to compromise the performance of the Apogee Sport or the intentions of the designer.

A simple analogy would be, much like climbing gear which is not meant for comfort but for performance. The Apogee Sport shares the same philosophy, the aircraft’s performance comes first, and with this you will find tight tolerances for gear installation..."

See also 2006 prototype build log on RCGroups by Jack Stevens and Jose E Bruzual at: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=595551 for lots more detail and build photos.

Re original Apogee design by Mark Drela circa 1999 see: http://www.charlesriverrc.org/articles/apogeehlg... for lots of background, also more free plans to download at various wingspans.

Update 25/1/2024: Added kit instructions (in PDF format), thanks to Mike Foster. Note this is a large file, at 5.5MB with total 109 pages.

Supplementary file notes

Instructions.

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