In our last discussion with Len, we were sharing our pain in regard nosing over when you take off with a SLS.
THE solution is to have a glider with a nose wheel like Duo Discus, DG500. But when you have a single seat, it is not the case.
An other solution is to program the slope of the speed controller to ramp slowly to avoid this. Easy on a paved run away, on a grass strip it usually lead us to have more than one attempt to really take of, consuming some precious Watt out of the battery!
Also the smaller you glider is, the bigger the problem is. It can run OK for 1/3 scale or up but for 1/4 scale.... thats really not efficient!
My way is to use a bungee with a hook to gain the precious speed allowing you to be airborne quickly.
What you need :
- 10 yard of a recycled high start, or some fresh one if you don't have any.
- 2 yard of mason line
- A welded ring
- Some piano wire
First step is to manufacture a hook using some piano wire, 2mm is far enough.
Bent it as a Z end like to connect to a control horn. on the other side put the shape like a rectangle to increase surface for gluing it to the bottom of the fuselage.
Then Drill a hole a little bit larger than the piano wire in the bottom of the fuse around 1/4 distance from nose to leading edge from the nose.
Glue the piano wire at the bottom of the fuse, bending it slightly to have the hook retracted during flight. You will then need to pull it out to connect it to the bungee. Of course add some fiberglass to stiffer the area.
Then the bungee,
I use a dog anchor screw on one side connected to the bungee, and the 2 yard of mason line with the ring are on the side of the glider.
Connection on the bungee can be done using cable ties
If you have selected a proper quality of latex tubing you can stretch it 3 time the initial length.
So game plan is getting the bungee in position, getting the glider ready, stretching the line. Then holding the glider by the fin, setting the sls full speed and release it to be airborne in 2 seconds.
Ring will fall of sooner or later
Be careful, it it like aerotow, set you elevator to slow rate as you have the speed of the bungee plus the full air flow of you SLS on you elevator; making it really sensitive.
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