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Another blast from the past, posted for fun and to perhaps inspire a current modeler or two. Although these pictures have been posted before, on a very old thread on R/C groups, I though the current crop of rocketery enthusiasts here on TRF would like a look at this ARF R/C BG project that never made it to market.
Once upon a time, the Sport Flyers Association was created in the early 1990's, for several reasons. The reason made most public was to offer an alternative to the AMA for model flying insurance. The principals also wanted to be in the hobby business in other ways.
The principal instigator, a gentleman named Al Zlogar, had a vision of creating a new force in the model hobby business. To get there, he created HobbyLab. At first, it was a model product think tank, composed of several individuals who shall remain nameless, except for me..
He wanted to produce a scale r/c RG or BG and market it directly to the public, via the magic of a TV commercial.
The first product under consideration was an F-14. Later, development was halted on this product to carry on with a simpler first product, the fairly well know HobbyLab SR-71...
But, the F-14 was first. We (I was the co-designer on this one) ginned up some protoypes (a total of 3 or 4) based on the F-14 slope soaring model from DCU, using only the glass fuse. We designed new wings for better glidng performance, as well as some slightly larger tail surfaces for better stability in glide and boost. Control was via tailerons on the horizontal tails. Full flying tails were not used: there was a fixed stab with a hinged elevon serface, for roll and pitch control. The model required 2 channels of R/C. The prototypes flew with Futaba S-133 servos, the Futaba micro rx of that time and a 250-300 mAh airborne battery pack, with elevon mixing and control supplied from a (state of the art at the time!) Futaba 7 UAFS computer TX.
If it had gone into production, it would have had an injection molded foam fuse and wings with some added wood as needed and would have been about the same size.
We designed the model to boost with the wings swept back. After burnout, the model would automatically release the rocket pod via a mechanical thrust sensing mechanism. The release of the pod allowed the wings to sweep forward for glide. The CG and CP control worked out so well with the sweeping of the wings and releasing of the pod, we decided to go ahead and make it a R/C boost glider that released the pod, rather than a simpler rocket glider that keeps the motor casing after burnout.
I do not recall the exact dimensions. Wingspan was probably a little under 4 feet. The all up weight ready to boost on the pad was around 30-32 oz....a bit piggy... We did all flights except for one or two on single use Aerotech G40 White Lightning motors, with the 4 second delays. This usually gave us around 600 to 700 feet in boost altitude. We removed the ejection charges, as the model did not need them. If it had ever gone into production, we would have sourced plugged G motors.
Here are some pictures showing a typical flight...early boost, late boost, circling VERY high in a thermal (note the extreme graininess of the enlargement) and coming into land. These pictures were shot during a demo flight in Little Rock, at a SMALL Steps event in about 1995. This flight was the longest one ever, at about 6-7 minutes. Typical flights were more like a 2 minute glide, without thermal assistance. It was NOT designed to be a duration model....
We did a lot of developmental flights at the old DARS launch site in Allen in far north Dallas, where it was always a popular thing to see fly.
In any case, like many new ventures, HobbyLab failed for a number of reasons, and the F-14, as well as the FF MD-80, R/C B-2, and R/C A-10 that were all in the prototype stages, never made it to production.
I still have one of the prototypes out in the garage and will restore it one of these days for some more scale RC BG fun.
Once upon a time, the Sport Flyers Association was created in the early 1990's, for several reasons. The reason made most public was to offer an alternative to the AMA for model flying insurance. The principals also wanted to be in the hobby business in other ways.
The principal instigator, a gentleman named Al Zlogar, had a vision of creating a new force in the model hobby business. To get there, he created HobbyLab. At first, it was a model product think tank, composed of several individuals who shall remain nameless, except for me..
He wanted to produce a scale r/c RG or BG and market it directly to the public, via the magic of a TV commercial.
The first product under consideration was an F-14. Later, development was halted on this product to carry on with a simpler first product, the fairly well know HobbyLab SR-71...
But, the F-14 was first. We (I was the co-designer on this one) ginned up some protoypes (a total of 3 or 4) based on the F-14 slope soaring model from DCU, using only the glass fuse. We designed new wings for better glidng performance, as well as some slightly larger tail surfaces for better stability in glide and boost. Control was via tailerons on the horizontal tails. Full flying tails were not used: there was a fixed stab with a hinged elevon serface, for roll and pitch control. The model required 2 channels of R/C. The prototypes flew with Futaba S-133 servos, the Futaba micro rx of that time and a 250-300 mAh airborne battery pack, with elevon mixing and control supplied from a (state of the art at the time!) Futaba 7 UAFS computer TX.
If it had gone into production, it would have had an injection molded foam fuse and wings with some added wood as needed and would have been about the same size.
We designed the model to boost with the wings swept back. After burnout, the model would automatically release the rocket pod via a mechanical thrust sensing mechanism. The release of the pod allowed the wings to sweep forward for glide. The CG and CP control worked out so well with the sweeping of the wings and releasing of the pod, we decided to go ahead and make it a R/C boost glider that released the pod, rather than a simpler rocket glider that keeps the motor casing after burnout.
I do not recall the exact dimensions. Wingspan was probably a little under 4 feet. The all up weight ready to boost on the pad was around 30-32 oz....a bit piggy... We did all flights except for one or two on single use Aerotech G40 White Lightning motors, with the 4 second delays. This usually gave us around 600 to 700 feet in boost altitude. We removed the ejection charges, as the model did not need them. If it had ever gone into production, we would have sourced plugged G motors.
Here are some pictures showing a typical flight...early boost, late boost, circling VERY high in a thermal (note the extreme graininess of the enlargement) and coming into land. These pictures were shot during a demo flight in Little Rock, at a SMALL Steps event in about 1995. This flight was the longest one ever, at about 6-7 minutes. Typical flights were more like a 2 minute glide, without thermal assistance. It was NOT designed to be a duration model....
We did a lot of developmental flights at the old DARS launch site in Allen in far north Dallas, where it was always a popular thing to see fly.
In any case, like many new ventures, HobbyLab failed for a number of reasons, and the F-14, as well as the FF MD-80, R/C B-2, and R/C A-10 that were all in the prototype stages, never made it to production.
I still have one of the prototypes out in the garage and will restore it one of these days for some more scale RC BG fun.
