Eugene:
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I was tied up with a work obligation yesterday that literally took all day and involved a meager 400+ mile road trip. Not a fun way to spend a Saturday. At any rate.....
I can't quite tell from your post whether you already know how to fly RC or if you are just starting out. I am going to assume that you are just starting out and have never flown RC before.
What I see as your primary question was would the Cox/Estes Black Maxx or Sky Vector be satisfactory as a glider to use to practice with in preparation for flying something like an Estes StratoBlaster.
I do not have personal experience with the Black Maxx or Sky Vector, so I hesitate to either recommend or de-recommend them. However.... if you have never flown RC before, I don't think those really small birds are a good way to start out.
Also, if you are just starting out, unless you have a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of parience, (not to mention a lot of luck) you need to find someone who has trained new RC flyers to help you. It is very difficult to learn to fly RC on your own.
Now, having given that disclaimer, I can recommend other gliders that I think would be good to use TO LEARN to fly RC.
I have seen the Great Planes Spectras fly, and they are a decent glider for learning / practicing. I've also seen a ThunderTiger WindStar fly. Another is the Hangar 9 Aspire glider. Carl Tulanko I believe has a Goldberg Electric Lady (I think?) which I think is a Gentle Lady with an electric motor. All of these are 2 meter (wingspan approx 72" to 78") gliders. If you learn to fly RC on these, I would think that you could then switch to your Black Maxx or Sky Vector to get experience with something smaller and lighter.
You can try starting out with the smaller ones, but I personally think that you would be putting a much larger challenge on yourself.
Now.... about simulators. Of all the people that I have taught to fly RC, the two who soloed the fastest had spent about 8 months practicing on the Great Planes RealFlight simulator. It was a father-son duo, and the father landed the plane on HIS FIRST FLIGHT. He soloed on his second flight. The son was a bit slower. He landed on his second flight, and soloed on his third. Fastest that I have ever seen anyone flying on their own. Sooooo.... I think that the simulators can really make a positive difference.
Having said all of the above, if you do know how to fly RC already, then I think it would be a good idea to try a Black Maxx or a Sky Vector before going on to something like the StratoBlaster. You do need experience flying small, light RC gliders to have a good chance of success with something like a StratoBlaster. I have flown a StratoBlaster, (you can read about its flights and its demise in another thread on the forum), and I can tell you that you do need pretty solid RC flying skills to handle it - ESPECIALLY if there needs to be any type of course correction during boost.
I, too, am anxiously awaiting the re-release of the StratoBlaster, but I am getting worried as Estes has delayed the release at least twice now - in other words, I am concerned that it may be cancelled. I do have one of the old unbuilt kits still in my inventory, and I do intend to make patterns of the parts before I build it, but I don't know of any way to actually duplicate the plastic parts for the fuselage. I could make a satisfactory fuselage out of balsa and lite ply, but it wouldn't be quite as cool - or as light.
At any rate, I think rocket boosted RC gliders are a really fun aspect of rocketry. I currently have an SR-71 Blackbird and a converted-from-electric Pico Combat Jet. The Combat Jet is set up to fly on AT 29/40-120 RMS hardware, and it normally launches on an F40. It's an animal. I am working on converting a Wattage Mirage and a Wattage Raptor. I also have a couple of vintage kits, the aforementioned StratoBlaster kit and an Aerotech Phoenix. There are numerous other kits and projects that I have in mind.
I hope this has been of some help. In closing, remember that this is only one person's opinion. Talk to others and collect some other input, then plan your own course of action. And, if you do end up with a Strat, please post some info on the forum as to how things go. We luv hearing about those new experiences !!
- Ken
