RC glider beginner tips?

Are there any general tips for starting out with radio controlled rocket gliders? I'm a complete beginner when it comes to radio controlled system.

I want to try to make one in the G to baby H range, perhaps like a slightly smaller version of Iter's Vulcan.

Regarding electronics: What systems should I be looking at?

Where should the CG be relative to the center of lift? Is it beneficial for this to be different during boost and controlled flight? How about vertical alignment of the motor thrust?

Any other tips? Can I test one by throwing it like a discus launched glider?

I'm still trying to figure out how to best design RCRGs, but the thing I would recommend first is practice flying regular RC pleas for a bit first. RGRG are often difficult to fly because of the shifting CG, but with a bit of practice it's definitely possible.

Re Electronics: Look at the Spektrum system. You probably want at least a baseline transmitter with the option to store multiple models. A transmitter and a few receivers is typically in the $150-$300 range for a good model. Get a decent trainer plane too for learning how to fly then consider trying a flying wing type design if that's what you plan to use for RCRG.

Also if you haven't flown RC before: Pheonix or Realflight is a must. They are both fairly accurate flight sims that will let you get the basics down and practice flying a wide range of planes. There are also free flight sim options that are decent.

I have a Spektrum DX8 and I love it. I recommend the Spektrum systems mostly because that is what I use; Futaba, Airtronics, Hitec, and others make good systems.

I concur with SCrocketfan in that you would be best served by getting a standard R/C trainer. The amount of stick time available between boosts with a RCRG is too small for good primary training. Depending on where you want to go with RCRGs will determine what sort of trainer you want. If you want to go with performance type gliders, I recommend something like a Goldberg Gentle Lady or Skybench Olympic II converted to electric launch. Both of these airplanes could conceivably be converted to a G-boosted RCRG as well. For powered training, I recommend a small foam high wing trainer such as the Hobbyzone SuperCub LP. There are plenty of choices out there; do some research and get what you think is best for you.

Keith Vinyard launches his S8E birds by the wingtip for flight testing, but because of the unbalanced tail, they don't launch anywhere near as well as a purpose built DLG.

There are two paths I can recommend. One is to learn how to fly R/C first, then get into RCRGs. CG shift is the least of your issues. The main difficulty is high airspeed. At the top of the boost, things happen very quickly, and control surfaces become extremely effective (aerodynamic forces go up as a square of airspeed). Things can get out of control very quickly. I know this has happened to me. The second problem is short, expensive flights. You learn very little on each flight, it takes a lot of work and money to set each of them up, and you end up flying very little.

If you take this approach, I recommend finding a local club or field and learning from someone with experience. It is possible to teach yourself to fly R/C, but this path leads to more broken airplanes and more discouragement. If you take this approach, you can learn to fly on an electric airplane and convert it to RCRG later. Skyfun (https://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/sto..._w_2500kv_Brushless_Motor_875mm_EPS_PNF_.html) is a nice option, cheap and has proven to be very reliable. You can read my conversion thread here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?63582-SkyFun-III-new-ideas-for-managing-CG-shift . It may be too fast for a first airplane, but for your second plane it's a solid choice. Then when you go fly it on rocket power, you'll know what to expect. It is about the size you say you're looking for.

The other path is to build a rocket glider that won't let you make any mistakes. You can take a design like Edmonds Arcie (https://edmondsaerospace.com/RC.html). It has single-channel control. You cannot mess up the up part--you have no control. On the down part, you only control roll, so you cannot stall, dive or otherwise nose into the ground. This takes significantly less work to get to flying, with a higher chance of success without an instructor.

Ari.

I have been working on RCRG for 2 years now (admittedly on and off for sure) and I'll give you my general "trajectory" to get to where I am (which is NO WHERE near Iter).

1. I identified a local RC flying group and befriended one of the parents at my son's school. This has proved to be the most valuable part of the equation: someone with experience in RC. This will get you a couple of things which are important:

a. Someone will most likely let you try out flying on a trainer or a buddy box that allows you to fly an airplane before making any kind of investment in anything. This is important! RC is a pretty expensive hobby to get started on and if flying a plane is exciting for you then chances are good that flying a rocket glider is something you will enjoy.

b. RC is a hobby that will overwhelm you with information, some good and some bad. If you think that the battles waged over propellant vendors are heated on here wait until you see the fanaticism that follows with what "TX RX" system is the "right" one. It seems that Spektrum is likely the most popular brand and it seems to be cost-effective but don't discount being able to buy used or borrow from someone in the club. Just make sure that you only pay for 2.4ghz stuff as it is much more available (and theoretically more reliable) than FM.

2. Once I learned how to fly in a rudimentary way I purchased a foam electric glider to learn on. The glider is pretty easy to learn on as it is very forgiving in the air and landing. I picked up a Flyzone Calypso and a few of the guys at the field have since purchased one since it is a cheap glider and it is an excellent flier. I'd avoid the RTF option as I now have a useless Tactic TX/RX pair since i swapped out to use Spektrum-based gear. I have flown this plane a couple dozen times and am comfortable soloing on it from launch to landing.

3. I have built a few Boost Gliders to learn about rocket-based gliders in general. These are fun to build and you can learn quite a bit about how a RCBG will behave during boost and after burnout. Sadly, it seems that when you get a BG all setup they tend to fly off into the sunset (or you strip their wing off on boost) so don't get too emotionally attached to them. You can build some simple, nice flying BG from freely-available plans and balsa stock and not have to rely on kits to do the job.

4. I purchased a computer-based flying sim program (Realflight) to continue to learn how to fly. There is a file for flying an Aerotech Phoenix that gives you an idea of the boost and glide phase. Note that I say "idea" since reality is quite different. The sim is good because it costs nothing when you crash and you can practice basic controls and get the "left/right" programming in your brain down.

5. I converted a hobbyking foam "radjet" to a RCBG - it has proven to be extremely durable for me to learn (crash) on. Going back to point #1 - having someone experienced flying helps with the shakedown. Unfortunately the Radjet is more of a flying wing and it needs speed to fly decently. Once we figured this out and worked out the kinks on the CG during flight it flies OK but certainly gives me something to work from since it really flies more like a brick with wings than anything else at this point. Sadly, the crashing and repairing have made it to be a little heavier than I like and it likely will have a retirement party sometime this summer. I'd recommend starting out with C or D-sized boost gliders since the cost per flight is much more tolerable while you figure this out. If I had to do this again, I'd follow Iter's recommendation for a SkyFun as it seems to be a better platform to build on since you can mount the motor further up with less fuss than you could on the RadJet and it is a little bit cheaper. Not to mention Ari gets about 3x the flight time we got off the Radjet.

Hope this helps a little bit. I'm still a new to this but do enjoy flying the electro-glider. I am working on a Skybench Olympic II kit this winter which is going much slower than I anticipated (uh...its still in the box) to learn how to do a balsa and covering-based build. As mentioned below, this is a candidate for a rocket boost glider but honestly I don't think that I'm going to take this route. After that I have a cheap 900mm discus-launch kit that I'm going to build and learn to DLG and possibly convert THAT into a RCBG by changing up the tail. We shall see how this one goes.

Lots to explore in this area of the hobby. Have fun!

I had a RadJet that I converted to 24mm RCRG. Flew well on E9s. I flew it into the sun and crashed it into a tree when I lost orientation. It flies about the same as a SkyFun, a little smaller.

One thing I'd add is I never had any success with R/C simulators. I know people who swear by them, and I respect that. My own experience though is that an ounce of the real thing is worth a pound of video game experience. They just feel so different to me. There's no stereoscopic depth perception, no wind indication on the skin of your face and--ultimately--little incentive to get her down safely. Again, I know they work for other people, so YMMV.

Ari.

Thanks for your advice, everyone.

It looks like I should start small (obviously) but I really want to get to the point of scratch building.

One thing that I would keep in mind is to keep the wing loading light, something that I have not always done well. Frank Burke told me to aim for 10 sq. in. per ounce and that sounds good to me. I have two gliders that are under this criteria and they glide well. I've got another glider that is 17 sq.in./ounce and it is not a good glider.

What the other guys said. First, learn how to fly RC. Computer simulators really help. For a radio I would recommend the Spektrum DX6i (dsx model, not dsm2). It's a nice reliable radio that's not too expensive yet allows allot of adjustability as well as ten model memory. You can pick them up on ebay relatively cheap.

Lots of good advice here. I would agree that you need to learn to fly R/C before attempting this. For the health of your model but more importantly for safety reasons. A glider on boost can quickly get out of hand and a movement in the wrong direction will only make things worse.
Ari brings up a good point about simulators. As a hobby shop guy I see folks come in and get on the RealFlight simulator and treat it as a game. If you live near an R/C hobby shop stop in and see if they have a simulator set up for use as we have. Try it out and judge for yourself. I have also seen those who come in and act as if they are going to die if they crash. It's all about attitude. You need to be somewhere in between these two attitudes. It is a tool. It is not perfect. It is much easier to put the plane where you want it in real life due to the "fish eye" quality of the simulator screen and you have virtually no peripheral vision. It is much easier to hit the reset button and fly again on the sim rather than go home and spend hours or even days repairing a plane to get another flight in. I wish we had had simulators when i was learning to fly back in the sixties. There were no ARF's then either. You built what you flew and repaired what you crashed. The learning curve was much longer then due to the time between flights(crashes). It took me two flying seasons to learn to fly R/C due to a cold solder joint on a battery pack that we didn't discover until midway through the second season and my instructor just assumed I was screwing up and I didn't know enough to realize it was the airplane.
Word of caution if you do decide on a simulator. Use the same kind of controller that you will be using in the real world. Learning to fly on a free sim download with a game pad will not be worth much once you start using the actual equipment for controling your aircraft. You are developing hand/eye coordination and muscle memory.

As far as equipment goes if you seek out an instructor go with what he recommends. Most systems out there are pretty good or they wouldn't be there. JR, Futaba, and Spektrum are the three most popular in this area pretty much evenly split. I stay away from the cloned receivers that many offer but they are cheap and most folks seem to have good luck with them. Just personal preference.

I will add in another 2 cents on a simulator since I'm still "new" to this hobby.

1. It is a tool and as long as you treat it as such it is helpful. There is NO WAY a flight sim will give you a 1-1 comparison of an actual flight, just like Rocksim and Open Rocket don't give you a 100% accurate flight. Use it to start to get a feel for how the controller works and how your inputs translate into movements on the airplane. I find that landing on the sim is very hard because it is difficult to replicate actual depth so I end up landing outside the "landing strip" more often than not.

2. If you have kids or younger people around a sim is a GREAT way to get kids interested in RC - all of the classrooms at my son's school have a flight sim and controller installed. The first and second graders LOVE flying the planes (and crashing them as you would expect). While they treat it strictly as a game, all of them can fly pretty well and get the whole left/right input without thinking about it. I know that my son loves to fly the sim and has done OK on a trainer. This summer we're going to build a foam glider for him to bungee on his own as he asked specifically to do that rather than having a powered plane.

I know that sims take out the "risk" of flying and remove the need to prevent crashes, but I have learned a lot from crashing on the sim. It has taught me that little inputs are better than large ones and it has taught me how to keep my cool when things are going wrong. That alone was worth the $100 I spent on it. Plus it gives me something to do on rainy days...

Hmm, it looks like there is a flying field extremely close by me, (a mile away) though I can't find the contact info for whoever runs it. Maybe it'll be posted if I go there.

Many of the electric-only fields are extremely informal, with no one "running" them per se. You are likely to find people flying there especially weekend mornings. You can just walk up to them and ask. If you bring one of your rockets or a video of a flight, you may have a small audience :=)

Ari.

Have you tried this....

https://www.modelaircraft.org/clubsearch.aspx

Titan II said:

Have you tried this....

https://www.modelaircraft.org/clubsearch.aspx

Click to expand...

That's how I found the closest site.

I may have seen planes flying near there before, but never made the connection.