Switchblade Rocket Glider Kits

Several months back, the good folks at Flite Test featured the free flight models and rocket gliders my wife and I fly. For those who haven't seen their fantastic work showing our planes in flight, have a look at these two videos:

F1D indoor flying: https://youtu.be/0y22mV2smkA
Rocket gliders and free flight: https://youtu.be/67fpOi5i9mM

Following the release of those videos, I received a great deal of interest in producing kits for the unique swing wing systems I've built over the past 8 years. Two months ago the new Switchblade S entered production as a laser cut kit.


The kits are simple to assemble and produce a nice flying model. No finishing is required. Those who are competition minded can easily sand the wings to an airfoil and thin down the tail surfaces to 1/32" with a razor plane, producing a competitive airplane with exceptional reliability.


You don't have to be skilled at trimming gliders--this one always goes straight on boost, and it remains stable across a wide range of CG locations. Sufficient negative incidence is built into the stab that it will never dive straight in (you still need to trim for correct turn diameter to avoid a spiral dive, but this is very easy).

We're selling these kits for $25 each. Contact me privately for details or at [email protected]

Also stay tuned for a micro R/C version which is a couple weeks out from production. Weather permitting, the maiden flight will be tonight!

Looks pretty cool - what is the size of the motor mount? NARAM 57 includes a C Rocket Glide duration event...

These are both 13mm models. The little one is 1/2A-A, larger is A only. I have plans to produce larger ones in the future, but for now those lie in the realm of prototypes in my collection. The one C r/g I've built does over 3 minutes in dead air, but the wings are a bit small so it's giving up some flight time.

The Switchblade XP flies!!! We've had three successful flights on A10-3T engines. I'll probably put it up on a piston launcher tomorrow night for a real flight...should gain me another 50'.


Bottom line, it handles great in glide, isn't half bad on the way up (hands off boost), and it's repeatable. Time to update the plans and order parts for a bunch of kits!

And now for a little promo video. Enjoy!

[video=youtube;puut_g5P5Jk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puut_g5P5Jk&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Are these in production yet?
And, do you loose the nosecone with each flight? And so, would you need a baggie of replacement nosecones?

Kirk,

The wing hold-down line passes through an eye hook on the nose cone. The ejection charge spits the nosecone out, releasing the tension on said line, deploying the wings. The nosecone hangs under the wings on the loose line. One would expect this to negatively impact glide performance, but in reality these glide quite nicely. With the wings shaped to an airfoil and lightened tail surfaces, they'll hold their own against a slide wing thanks to the wing area advantage.

The smaller free flight version is in production. I've tested it enough to endorse it as safe on 13 mm 1/2A-A engines, and on 1/4A's with a piston. Price is $25 each plus $7 shipping. Funds can be paypaled to [email protected] with your shipping address.