Aether Joined-Wing Concept Glider

[Rktman]

Great job with sanding that airfoil, that's really nicely done. It flies fantastically, very impressive original design!

Really appreciate that! Thanks for visiting the build thread. There doesn't seem to be as many of us glider fans out there anymore to share ideas and enthusiasm, so much obliged for the feedback.

 

[Crawf56]

Good stuff.

 

[Rktman]

Good stuff.

Thanks. Really a fan of your builds and build threads, and admire your RC skills. I had thought about getting into it, even bought a trainer before Covid and lockdown happened. Got fairly good at flying it, but after looking at the learning curve and $ investment in acquiring components and knowing the best combinations to minimize weight while maximizing signal reach and getting more practice on learning to control the transmitter stick/buttons, well...I decided that I can always rebuild anything that I lose.

 

[Rktman]

Had a rare winter opportunity to fly the Aether again yesterday. Gotta say that of all my self-designed scratch builts, this one has been the most consistent in putting in successful, trouble-free buoyant flights. Yesterday's flight was a nice surprise, the longest at somewhere between 1.5 and 2 minutes despite the double-digit wind gusts (or maybe because of it?). I'm guessing that despite its size and oddroc planform, I'm speculating that it must have ended up with a favorable wing loading number.

EDIT
A little advice about the hinge material: maybe use something like MonoKote, UltraCote, Polyspan, etc., or something with a very aggressive adhesive. I used Blenderm, but it began to loosen while on the pad waiting for a lull in the double-digit wind gusts (about a half hour) under the tension of the elastic.

I've also discovered that film adhesives stick better to a relatively smooth, nonporous surface instead of raw balsa, so I routinely add at least 2 coats of 50% thinned dope (or brushing lacquer in my case) to seal and strengthen the balsa, sanding between coats. Otherwise the hinge adhesive won't be able to adhere as well because of the micro air pockets in the balsa grain, and tiny dustlike fibers of balsa will tear off, weakening the adhesive's hold the same way that presticking it to your clothes a few times to purposely make it "repositionable" will do for those situations where you want it to be, like on paper templates.

 

[shockie]

Excellent!

 

[Rktman]

I think I may have found a solution to the hinge adhesive problem on my other build thread I’m working on: a secondary strip of material inside the hinge area. Of course this requires laminating two thinner pieces of balsa together, sandwiching the hinge material between them. See pic below.

Once done, you’ll never have to worry about the hinge material’s adhesive giving out, as the internal hinge strip is captured and sealed inside the laminated balsa pieces. As extra insurance, I like to place another strip of self-adhesive material on the outside of the wing/elevator area as usual, though it’s probably optional.