Showing posts with label Gladiator. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gladiator. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Gladiator













Hank

Is this your model?  (upper left) I'm confused by the three types listed on the SAM website.
Did it fly well?
Yes it is--This is the type 1 (one) wing--That makes it rare--When the article was published in the magazine, it showed a picture of the model being hand launched--It had a type 1 wing--When everybody ordered in the plans it showed the type 2 (two) wing--Boooooo hissssss!!--I got the type 1 wing plans from John Pone and they were a disaster--Totally out of square, tapered, and different lengths on each side etc etc--I redrew the plans and went that way--There were no dihedral angles or dimensions anywhere to be found so I used Playboy Sr angles--Who is to say it's wrong--The originals don't exist--Pond also included a set of rib templates, (very bad) which I figured to be the standard 6409 shape--The type 1 wing is longer than the type 2 wing and has more area--If you intend to build one go to great pains to build the after end of the fuse and tail feathers light--It's an awful short nose--I flew mine with several different engines in it from a Hornet to an O&R 60--I believe the original had a Dennymite--My favorite combination was with a Super Cyke on ignition, gas and oil with a Rev Up 12x5 prop--With an Anderson 65 it was potent--With the very long tail moment arm it doesn't stand on it's tail but is still very fast climbing--The glide is a beautiful floating one--I kept incidence at 1 1/4 degrees and CG at about 74%--It has a big stab--Mine came in a 8.1 oz per square with the Super Cyke, Hitec 555 receiver, Hitec 81 servos and 650 ma batteries--I use 350 ma telephone batteries for ignition--I hope this helps you                                                       ......Hank 

Years ago, I built a full size Ehling Request for class A chosen based on how well my dad's .020 replica flew.
I discovered that a lot of liberties had been taken with the .020 version compared to the Air Trails drawing.  But when I got the Klarich kit with the Pond plan things were even worse. It had a 44" (left side tapered!) and a 22" stab.   The AT article indicated it would be 11"
Tom

All this seems to be quite standard--All screwed up--Interesting about your dad's 020 version--I built one back in the 70s with a pee wee on the nose with a coil of fuel tubing for an engine run timer--I had tons of fun flying that on dead calm summer evenings--Another model of that series that was a blast to fly was the 020 version of the Brooklyn Dodger----Again a pee wee on the nose--I had it trimmed out to fly right/right and caught it in my hands many many times on dead calm summer evenings--I was living up in NJ back then and there was still room to fly FF--I started flying RC in 1952 because it was  new experience--I actually built my first model that flew in 1943, and my first gas model that flew in 1948--A Buccaneer "B" Special with an O&R 23--Lots of room for FF--Now I don't know of anywhere you can fly FF here in Maryland so FF is over for me  .....Hank Baer
                                                     AMA L50 SAM L81