Estes Transwing Glider

Awhile back, I built and attempted to launch the Estes Transwing Glider.
On ignition, the rocket glider left the pad, rose about 4 feet, arced, and
then crashed. I double checked to see if I had the proper balance/center
of gravity. The second launch was the same. I'm not sure what I'm doing
wrong. Any thoughts?

That sounds like the 2 trans wings that i've "flown"

to improve your chances, check the balsa, i swapped the kit or a less dense version.
it's not a great kit.

What motor were you using? I have had no luck with Bs, only C6s.

I used B motors. One thing I noticed was how "heavy" the rocket was.
I wonder, if I used a longer launch rod to allow it to be a little more
stable at liftoff, would that help?

Use a longer launch rod and a minimum of C6. This thing is just begging for a D10-3W from Apogee.

artie said:

I used B motors. One thing I noticed was how "heavy" the rocket was.
I wonder, if I used a longer launch rod to allow it to be a little more
stable at liftoff, would that help?

Click to expand...

As Adam Savage would say 'Well, *theres* your problem!'.

I had one of these and anything NOT a C5 or C6-3 is a NONO. Yes, its heavy, and surprisingly so. Shoot, even the 'balsa' in mine seemed like petrified marble.

Still a neat kit due to the different way of working not seen on any other kits. I upscaled this to around 2.5x and although it glides MUCH better, boost performance is nothing to write home about. Yes, a longer rod MIGHT help, but remember, long THIN rods with whip on you, and if this hangs up even slightly it will only add to the 'sideways shootin' behavior.

I had a very short but successful flight on a B6-2. I modified the pop pod for a D12-3 but haven't flown it. The D12-3 has a reliably short delay--I've never seen a bonus delay.

Good to know, I just finished putting one of these together and hadn't tried to fly it yet. What was the approximate altitude on the C6?

I guess this thread should have been a warning. We first tried to launch our Transwing several weeks ago on a B as we didn't have a lot of open space where we were. The launch and separation was actually quite nice, but the glider flew into a sheet of recovery wadding which got stuck on one of the wings and it simply spiraled down. It was a slow enough descent that there was no damage. It also appeared that the location would probably not be the best for it either.

This was one of the first rockets my daughter asked for, so it was kind of tough waiting for another chance to launch it. We took it to a club launch in September, we were there only Saturday of the two day launch and the wind was too high to try and fly it. Of course, Sunday was perfect and we weren't there.

Finally this past weekend we took it to the October club launch. The wind was fairly calm, with intermittent gusts, but was predicted to pick up as the day progressed, so the Transwing was the first we put out on the pad, on a C6. As it lifted off the pad, I noticed something white trailing behind it. It had taken the launch control wire with it somehow. The wire disconnected from a plug by the pad and flew with it the entire "flight", which consisted of going up maybe 40 feet as it arced toward the ground, hitting nose first while still under thrust...3/4 of the nose cone buried into the ground and the glider in 3 pieces.

While the wire stayed with it the whole way, I have no idea what it got tangled to, because it was separated on impact. One of the wind gusts before launch spun it about a quarter of the way around on the launch rod, and maybe that caused the wire to be hanging over the tail section. Fortunately, there was a vendor on hand with a Semroc Swift which made my daughter feel better. Now to build that one.

That is too bad.

You may want to try the Quest QEZ glider if you want something that will actually glide.

Zack

Gneiss, that's too bad. I've had nothing but good luck with my Transwing on C6-3s. Last time out was a beautiful 40-second glide.

The trick, as you've discovered, is dealing with the wires. CATO has 5-rod launches, so I usually borrow an adjacent rod to wrap the wires around.

Usually, when flying front motor boost gliders, I take along a launch pad and stick another rod in the ground and clip the leads to the second rod. An excellent picture of this trick is shown in Stine's Handbook of Model Rocketry. This way the leads fall back away from the tail of the glider. Better luck with your Swift.

While in the garage last night working on another rocket I took a break and looked at all the pieces of my daughter's TransWing. It didn't look like I was going to be able to make the glider fly again but I thought maybe I could get the rocket part to fly. I grabbed the parts, made some cuts, slapped on some glue, and now have what I may call FrankenWing. Tonight I'm going to check the joints for strength and give it a swing test. Then I have to decide if I'm brave enough to try and fly the thing at the club launch Saturday. My reasoning keeps telling me that it has the same "fin" area as the original and no extra weight so it "should" be stable :confused2: