Boost Glider Gallery

I never had much luck with gliders. I had tried a few and always been disappointed. Still, I keep trying every now and again. My last glider was the Semroc Boost Glider, purchased just after its release. To my complete amazement, things went pretty well with this one.

I had heard all of the warnings about paint on gliders but I was not looking for high performance. I wanted mine to look good and, just maybe, glide. I painted it like the face card and thought it looked stunning. I limited myself to one coat. In retrospect, I wish I had globbed the paint on and lowered the performance even more. If I had, I might still have it today.:dark:

My TRF thread is here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=5394

The photo albums, including a few videos, are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/collections/72157621956600615/

a few of my Boost Gliders; Pop-pod, internal pod, Kicks the Motor casing or parasite gliders, if the motor pod or Casing seperates for the Glider it's a Boost Glider...with the exception of Flex-wing Gliders which are in a class all by themselves.

More examples of Boost Gliders.

and some Micro powered Boost Gliders.

A few more Micro Boost Gliders.

Some from First Fleet. These were my first attempts at gliders back in the day.

Last my current set of SST type Piggyback parasite gliders.
and One RCBG the Edmonds Arcie-II

Found 3 more to add to the Boost glider list.
first is a Fantastic flying QCR kit the Fokker DR-1 Tri-wing BG. Not sure if Mr Brown is still in business but if he is and this kit is still available it's worth the trouble building.

Not so for the all Foam core Space Camel BG, this was an AWFUL flying model. easy build but never flew worth the powder to blow it to bits!

Last is Flis kits Micro to the Maxx "3's a Charm" 3 tiny glider micro Airshow. Wow What a great little model. but you need lots of eyes for this 4piece gliding recovery and streamer booster.

Let's have some fun. Take the most unaerodynamic car available - the Trabant. Add some gliding bits and a rocket booster. The result is this...

adrian said:

Let's have some fun. Take the most unaerodynamic car available - the Trabant. Add some gliding bits and a rocket booster. The result is this...

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Great Shots Adrian! what a fun project... really KEWL! and looks like it Glides pretty well also

It was certainly fun! The glider won't win any duration contests but it doesn't crash either. The first two flights arced over, the second more severely, and I wasn't sure if it was due to weathercocking or the unbalanced drag from the Trabant; the near horizontal second flight was probably both. I put small elevators on the glider's V tail fins, aligned with great care using the TLAR (*) system, and the resulting third flight is the one shown in the above photos.

(*)That looks about right.

Our boost gliders:

Semroc's SST Shuttle
Estes Shuttle Express
Quest QEZ Glider
Estes Eagle Boost Glider

My first and only boost glider was purchased from Apogee and called the "Condor":https://www.apogeerockets.com/condor_glider.asp
Easy build and fun to watch, my first launch was on a C-6-5 and that was a mistake. Even with a light wind, it floated circling for a half a mile down range! Second flight was on a B-6-4 and still had to chase it quite a ways. Maybe I will find an A engine next.... Am I doing something backwards?

than the Deltie. I've bought three because I have flown two of them away. So this last one was cloned from the 3rd kit. I have 3 pop pods to prove I bought all three of them and the kit is hanging on the wall, but after flying away two, I have 'paid' my dues.




As usual this Deltie is a GREAT flyer. Trimmed very easily and got a 40 second glide on a 1/2A. You just can not not have a good flying glider if you follow the instructions.

My Edmonds Aerospace Arcie II

My Estes Cosmos Mariner

My Estes Eagle Boost Glider

bcanino said:

My Edmonds Aerospace Arcie II

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Very COOL!!

bcanino said:

My Estes Cosmos Mariner

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Those are great shots!

gdjsky01 said:

Those are great shots!

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I can not take credit for the launch shots. It was my model, but the pictures were taken by Chris (Mr NARAM Live) Taylor

My MRC Thermal Hawk. This is a great beginner's glider, now sadly OOP. The Thermal is easy to trim and fly. It flies well on B4-2s. I have yet to try a C6-3.

heres mine. mmx powered. havent launched it yet, still need some engines. it glides well with me gently tossing it, or dropping it, should work

mwtoelle said:

My MRC Thermal Hawk. This is a great beginner's glider, now sadly OOP. The Thermal is easy to trim and fly. It flies well on B4-2s. I have yet to try a C6-3.

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I'd like to copy this to its own section of the gallery if I can.

Go ahead.

mwtoelle said:

Go ahead.

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I copied only to see that you had beat me to it by about a year.

I did not remember. Sorry for the trouble and thanks.

Here are a couple of my attempts at building a rocket that boosts AND then glides. The best that I have been able to do so far is to achieve half of that equation.

In the left is my clone of the AMROCS Wombat. Next to it is a clone of the Estes Astron Falcon.

Both gliders do wonderfully in hand tosses. In actual rocket flights, though, it's a different story. Of the two, the Wombat does a bit better. The motor pod keeps popping off at the end of its high speed, high inclination "landings" though.
.

Here's a picture of my 1971 vinage Estes Astron Falcon glider.

It was not the first model rocket I built but it WAS the first model rocket I launched. Flew it on a 1/2A6-2. When the motor ejected it knocked one of the vertical stabs off. It glided fine.

I finished it with Testors red bottle paint and a 1/4" wide brush. I'm pretty sure that added a bit of weight to the model.

Maybe I will fly it again someday.

MarkII and Initiator:

May I copy your posts to the specific gallery sections?

JAL3 said:

MarkII and Initiator:

May I copy your posts to the specific gallery sections?

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Yes from me.

Edmonds Twinsee two stage boost gliders.