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I got one (half finished) a couple years ago. I really need to finish it and fly it, but I keep putting it off because I'm still batting 1,000 on gliders of all kinds. Whoosh, nice up, thud.
 
Save your money and get one when eRockets releases a version later this year.

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I got one (half finished) a couple years ago. I really need to finish it and fly it, but I keep putting it off because I'm still batting 1,000 on gliders of all kinds. Whoosh, nice up, thud.

What kind of gliders are you flying that fail? I've used straight front eng. pop pod, moving engine/wing RG, swing wing, flop wing, RC, with few problems. It's all in how you build them. Lately been flying a "blow pod" that goes back to Larry Rengers first designs, with some extra tricks. Streamer on engine. Works every time. You don't need
negative incidence or pop up elevator, as long as the stab is below the wing by a little, wing turbulence pushes the stab down a little tiny bit.
 
What kind of gliders are you flying that fail? I've used straight front eng. pop pod, moving engine/wing RG, swing wing, flop wing, RC, with few problems. It's all in how you build them. Lately been flying a "blow pod" that goes back to Larry Rengers first designs, with some extra tricks. Streamer on engine. Works every time. You don't need
negative incidence or pop up elevator, as long as the stab is below the wing by a little, wing turbulence pushes the stab down a little tiny bit.

We had an Estes kit(s) that were reputed to be super easy and nearly foolproof. They were destroyed. Then, on the advice and assistance of Carl McLawhorn (may he rest in peace), we tried the "easiest, most foolproof, glider ever." Carl swore that he used it with school groups and Cub Scouts all the time and it was almost impossible to get wrong. I don't recall the name, but it was/is a forward pod glider that ejects the motor at altitude. Easy build, trimmed nicely, glided fine on the ground. Launched, crashed, repaired, crashed, repaired again, crashed again. Gave up.

To be fair, the (foam) glider kit that we bought with our Fliskits Decaffeinator has flown beautifully and has (so far) come back every time.
 
Here is the story. I was a frequent competitor in NAR meets in the 60's and 70's, flew everything, got fairly good at scale and was on one I-nats team (scale alt, beat by clouds).

I had terrible problems with BG reliability, although a swingwing RG I cooked up usually worked, different than the famous Groundhog, better opening system. So now that I have time and money, have gone back to attack BG with new ideas.

Note the radio control gear is MUCH improved since back then, and very cheap if you know where to look.

The venerable "piece X" pop pod I believe is troublesome and finicky. So I designed some replacements, some work well, but are more complex and heavy. Finally I just

went back to the "blow pod" from the early days. They just ejected the motor from a front eng BG to shift the CG for glide. Today you can't do that by NAR rules, so I use a
BT20 engine tube with rings inside BT50, there is room for a streamer.

Here is a trick not well known in the USA, the euro's are hip to it. I saw it used on a winning RG at NARAM-13. You tilt the top mounted pod about 3 degree, so it points DOWN. Watch you don't burn the stab or tail off, some coating is sometimes good on the top of stab. What this does is counteract the "down moment arm" of the pod being offset from the center of the model. I use a 1" tall pylon and 2.5 deg.

I just flew a great flight last weekend with this. The small CG shift of blowing the motor module is enough to cause transition to glide. Can't get much simpler than this.
Just make sure your CG is in the right place. Hand toss does not determine it exactly, you need a flight. Watch for optimal glide and no stalling.

Note if you try just the canted pod without blowing the motor, as in RG, the angle is more critical. Even 0.1 degree off will cause looping. But this tilt + blow technique
seems to work well. Try it! Front eng. BG of your choice, or design your own. 0-0 incidence, mount stab a little lower than wing, it will work.
 
The kind of person willing to pay over $100 for that VINTAGE kit in a bag, is most likely a collector, and that bag will not be opened.

I'd be really surprised if they built it. Instructions and templates are probably on JimZ's website, if so it could be cloned for $15 or less.

I had one way back when. I had seen others fly, that always spiraled down into the ground. So, I built mine to add dihedral, cut hinge lines and added hinges and rubber bands to pull them up, so the outer 4" or so of the wings came up for dihedral of 15 degrees or so after deployment. Later made a few custom scissor-wings.

I would NOT recommend any scissor-wing that did not have that modification for dihedral pop-up. But a modification like that is not something I'd recommend for a glider newbie to mess with, either.

My favorite Estes glider kit was the Sky Dart. It works pretty well, though I have seen a few spiral in due to a warped wing or whatever. But usually the swept back leading edge produces enough of a dihedral effect for enough roll stability to prevent that.

Peartree, did you ever try an Edmonds "Deltie"? Too bad they are OOP now.

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I've looked at several of the Edmonds gliders and heard good things about them. Even held the packages in my hands, just never pulled the trigger on any of them. I'm sure I'll work up the courage to try again in the next year or two.
 
Second on Edmonds Gliders:

Like you PearTree-John, I'm pretty bad with gliders. but we just keep trying LOL!
I know Robert personally and have been lucky enough to beta test many of his Glider concepts and production gilders. One of the very first things he Stressed about any of the Deltie gliders: They are Designed to NOT be airfoiled or even have the edges rounded. It completely goes against everything I've ever been tought but believe it! Most of Edmonds designs fly best, Unpainted (Magic Marker is OK) and square edged.

Back in the Day: I got my Very first qualified B- Boost Glider contest flights with a hastily constructed Estes Scissor Wing Glider. I've been flying that same model every so often ever since. Like the design so much I DownScaled it to fly on a single MMX-II motor. The Micro Scissor Wing does pretty well but does really well with a Chad Staged 10.5mm 1/2A2-0 Booster.
Edmonds IVee BG is the next step up allowing some sanding of leading edges. But still flies just fine with square edges.

George is right on here: I'm sure the plan is over on Jim-Z, with a little bit of balsa and plywood I'm sure a Clone could be had for 12.00 - 15.00 dollars.

There was also another Swing Wing Kit back in the day by Estes. The Crusader Swing Wing BG. A Really KEWL design. My is still flyable and I've almost lost the glider a couple times in trees. Luck and a long pole have returned it from several C6-3 long glide flights. If one of these kits come up it has about the same build process and pivot parts as the Scissor Wing.

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