I have thought of taking the carriage (or sled) out along with all of the electronics out and fixing the flaps in place. There would be no guidance, which might not be good, but the weight comes down to 1 lb 12 0z, which starts to become interesting for gliding. I would still need to add the tail back in, because it is attached to the sled, but I could make a lighter tail. This might not take much work and I have 2 orbiter gliders. It's food for thought.
As I look at the ideas from Frank and Tom I could also try making a new Orbiter glider using the 1/8" balsa papered material that has served me so well on the Double Shuttle. The Double Shuttle had a max speed of 194 fps versus 265 fps for the 4xOT, which might not sound like much ,but the ratio on dynamic pressure is (265/194)^2 = 1.866 . However, the nice thing about 1/8" wings is that they have 1/4 the frontal area of the current 1/2" styrofoam wings.
As I look at the ideas from Frank and Tom I could also try making a new Orbiter glider using the 1/8" balsa papered material that has served me so well on the Double Shuttle. The Double Shuttle had a max speed of 194 fps versus 265 fps for the 4xOT, which might not sound like much ,but the ratio on dynamic pressure is (265/194)^2 = 1.866 . However, the nice thing about 1/8" wings is that they have 1/4 the frontal area of the current 1/2" styrofoam wings.