Dual Turbo 2000 glider booster

[cls]

the Turbo 2000 is a $2 styrofoam glider available in many hobby shops & similar shops. unlike other styrofoam gliders these actually fly OK and the wings don't fall out after every landing, and the styrofoam doesn't get wedged out etc.

back in August we met a fellow who flew a BT80 booster for a pair of Turbo 2000s.

doing this project has been on my mind since then. recently we bought a couple of the gliders.

I decided to go with BT60 for the booster because that's what I have in the garage. (The BT70 is being hoarded, the BT80 is for another project.)

I can't remember how the guy attached the gliders but I guess it doesn't matter too much, so I decided to go Condor-ARV style - see the following pix for details.

I hope these pix inspire someone to go cobble something together.

we flew this contraption today. first, on a C11-3. 3 seconds was a little too long of a delay but the gliders flew great. too chicken to try a D12-3 on our little field - the gliders definitely would have flown away - so we used a C11-0. bad move, the booster was hauling when it split and the gliders just fumbled around and nosedived...

maybe I will get some more C11-3s tomorrow. need some more E9s anyways.

(the attachment is a picture of the inspirational booster & gliders)

 

[cls]

here is my completed BT60 turbo 2000 booster

yeah, it's not painted. hey, I have a big can of ... um ... white paint in the garage, guess that'll do!!

 

[cls]

just for yucks here is a picture of the whole thing disassembled.

you can see the booster is made of 2 x 18" sections of BT-60. the lower section is 11.25" (eyeball engineering to match the Turbo 2000 fuselages), has the motor mount on the bottom and a coupler on top.

the top section is made of the 6.75" remainder from the bottom section coupled with the other 18" section.


(paper towel tube would work fine if that's what you have. glue a layer of bristol board on it to stiffen the paper towel tubes. any ole' nose cone would work. how about an easter egg instead?)

I glued some kevlar thread under both the tube couplers. the kevlar threads from the two sections are joined by elastic. yes there are two 16" parasheets, the donor bag was from toys R bust (not Target this time!)

 

[cls]

to hook the gliders on to the booster, the gliders have some 1/8" dowel (actually a BBQ skewer) glued on the forward and aft of the fuselage.

matching straws are glued on to the booster body tube.

just like the Condor ARV, there are two dowels on the bottom, one on top.

yes the gliders wobble around a bit but in practice the whole assembly boosts straight and clean (unlike the Fat Boy today). most importantly the gliders separate when they are supposed to (unlike the Deltie).

picture here shows the aft of the bottom booster tube and its two straws, and the aft of a glider and its two dowels.

 

[cls]

similar to the above post ...

this picture shows the aft end of the top booster body tube, with its one straw, and the forward end of a glider fuselage with its matching one dowel.

 

[cls]

this picture shows the whole thing assembled. putting it together is difficult and seems to require about 5 hands. but once it is together it's good. don't hold it by only the top airframe tube, the bottom will fall out. maybe I should put some tape on the coupler...

yes I am spreading the two gliders as far apart as they will go to show the extent of the "wobble". it's not bad really. not sure it's worth fixing because the dowels are just yellow-glued on the styrofoam and won't take much torque.

 

[cls]

OK, just one more picture, my daughter here for size...

 

[rbeckey]

Cliff,
Nice work and a cool idea. Coincidentally, my son and I finished his ARV Condor last night and there is a little play in the gliders. I have been wondering if this was due to some slop on my part, or if it was built in and not real critical. I figured I could mount some balsa finlets, ala Orbital Transport, to better hold it all in place if necessary.

 

[cls]

rbeckey, it's OK for the gliders to wobble. they seem to self-align in flight and it doesn't seem to hurt anything that they are not "exactly 90o" or whatever. maybe saxophone will pipe up in here about his ARV Condor. his gliders fly better than mine.

 

[SwingWing]

Originally posted by cls

I hope these pix inspire someone to go cobble something together.

OK, I'm cobbling!
I picked up two gliders some time ago, and started in on it tonite. Mine will be made from a 2" mailing tube and 24mm mount. I have decided upon 3/16 dowels that are full length of the gliders and 3/16 launch lugs. 4 point connections per glider.
I'll post some pix when the glue dries....

 

[SwingWing]

O.K., here are some pix of my cobblin together. The four point attachment holds the gliders much less wiggley than on my Condor. I attached things to the foam with GE clear silicone.

 

[SwingWing]

Thanks for the fun project! Here is the underside of one glider. I have shortened the dowels since this was taken to help with glider deployment.

 

[SwingWing]

Whole bird. The gliders aren't crooked as they look in this picture