Bob Galler's Ultra Mk IV

Steve Moskal and his Hover King

Here we are the morning of October 17 at Domingo Baca Park in Albuquerque. The Hover King is set at 40% CG and the hi-start is provided by Bob Galler. Five flights on this Peter Gilbert design from 1950. No problems in flight. I was surprised at how fast this 72" span glider flies with the 13% GOe549 airfoil.

Bob Galler and Richard Dick at the Sod Farm

Bob Galler and his Sailwing

Bob and his Sailwing should be coming to the Champs this October.

Richard Dick and Thunderking

Richard and his glider Thunderking will also be appearing at the Champs.

Thermic 50 under way

Time to start something completely different. The BMJR kit of the Zaic Thermic 50.

From the BMJR website

Check out those prices!

The Thermic 50 should make a nice electric. I happen to have almost all the RC and electric gear needed to fly her at the SAM Champs. (I wonder if someone somewhere has the plan for the pod and boom Thermic 50-X pictured above?)
The Comet Kid

Time to start Hover King

I've started Peter Gilbert's Hover King in his original 72" wing span. My work in TurboCAD was begun in earnest today. Here's a screen shot.
The Comet Kid

Richard Dick and new Stardust Special

This just in from Richard Dick.
"Here is a photo of the 900 square inch Stardust Special. It will be next to maiden."

Nice work, Richard.

Sincerely,

The Comet Kid

Richard Dick maidens Thunder King

I'm so glad Richard Dick was able to maiden his Thunder King glider on June 1, 2019.

Richard Dick and Thunder King; Photo by Bob Galler

Here's Bob Galler's report of the successful test flights.

"Yesterday at an almost completely empty Balloon Fiesta Park (not normal for a Saturday), Richard maidened his scaled-down Thunder King. It flew right off the building board with no adjustments needed for our conditions- 5 to 10 mph from the south. It came off the hi-start just fine for that wind. It looks great and flies great. We hope to see it in Boulder City."

And now the report of Richard, the master builder.

"I maidened the Thunder King this morning with Bob's help. A hand toss showed it should glide pretty well. Then we tried a few hi-start launches and those flights went very well: I even caught a thermal on the last launch. The model weighs 29 oz at a CG of 40% . It's a little heavy and so it will require a strong hi-start in no wind conditions. However, there was a 5 - 10 MPH wind this morning and it launched very nicely.  It flies fast being that heavy."

Our friend Larry Jolly has really started something with his push for Old Timer gliders as a SAM event.

All the best,

The Comet Kid