Rainbow Soarer (oz8623)

About this Plan

Rainbow Soarer. Powered glider. Pod and boom model for radio control. NACA 6409 airfoil.

Quote: "The awesome powers of nature never fail to amaze me. I couldn't care less about city life, but forever wonder about the wind and sky, the restless sea and the immensity of space. I am not alone, for I never met a modeler who did not stand enthralled by the building of a thunderstorm. Nature on a rampage! I have flown over them, under them and through them, and words cannot describe the latter.

Before the storm, there is the sun on the fields, the thermals are born and spiral into the sky. You can see the hawks riding free, wheeling ever higher. The cumulus puffy clouds start to build, and the cycle of life in the sky goes on. I don't think very many people ever look aloft, or understand it all, but a modeler does. A dust devil forms, swirls the leaves and travels off. You gaze at a multi, and dream of a glider. With a soarer you could join the hawks. Quiet silent flight, defying gravity, a quest of altitude surfing on natures waves. A game of skill and a game of chance. If you win, you soar for the hour. If you lose, you try again. But stay away from the bowels of the thunderhead! Hail and turbulence lie within. You must fly by nature's rules.

High aspect, a light loading, undercambered, minimum drag, sensitive and stable - nature's rules for soaring. An A/1 is fine, an A/2 better, but neither is truly big enough to house proportional radio equipment, so you must go larger. Better for soaring, better for visibility and less burdened with the load. More work, but more fun, and a Radio Soarer is worth the effort. With a little luck, it will fly for a long, long time.

You lay the paper across the board and sketch in the lines. A glider to be a glider must be a functional thing. You must be able to get it aloft. A hillside will do, but what if the terrain is flat? A towline then, but what if the man is old? A rubber shock cord hi-start line can haul it to 500 feet. This is the 'purists' way, and you must make it on the currents from there. But what of cooler air, December weather..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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