Re: [RCSE] BUILDING A GENIE OR LT/S THIS WINTER?
Yes, as a matter of fact...building #3 LT/S this winter. Having never built anything more "scratch" then a couple of Todis and Maestros in the 70's then putting together several pre-made bagged planes and a moldy or 2 the last few years, I embarked on building, flying and campaigning two LT/S's in the 2004 season.The LT/S was just the right amount of first-time scratch for me. With plans, hardware goodies and mass-quantites of written material, pictures, and emails from Harley...amazing foam cores from Les, and the Phil Barnes DVD, the LT/S's helped me to come in 2nd in Open Class in the Northwest Soaring Society season points standings last year. ( Kelly Johnson in first with 99.95%, me in second with 99.68%...best 8 contest days out of 17 days flown). Russ RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
Re: [RCSE] BUILDING A GENIE OR LT/S THIS WINTER?
I know the feeling. I even started cutting templates for my LT/S wing last year. A four panel wing takes 5 templates x 2 (for upper/lower). I got bored after template #5, and frustrated that I couldn't find blue foam locally, so I ordered the cores from Les Horvath.. Upon opening the box, my first reaction was "what the hell was I thinking??" Cores so perfect that it seemed a disgrace to subject them to my band saw for spar slots. Leading edges so smooth that I ignored Harley's balsa leading edges and left them intact. Throw in those neat blade joiners plus some of Harley's "sliced condom" rudder hinges, and you're on your own for the rest. Scratch builder heaven. I think Harley should do one of those MasterCard commercials: Wing cores, $75; Plans and other stuff, $30; Some carbon and balsa, $150; Beating a $1,500 plane . priceless. :-) Loren Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 19:11:41 -0500 From: "Andrew E. Mileski" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: soaring@airage.com Subject: Re: [RCSE] BUILDING A GENIE OR LT/S THIS WINTER? Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Harley Michaelis wrote: > > Since I first mentioned this spring of posting of the GENIE CD content > at http://genie.rchomepage.com/, there have been well over 5,000 hits. > That many intentional visits tells me people are looking for worthy > airframe projects. Yet, but a few dozen inquiries have come in and fewer > yet have committed to building. Harley, Keep in mind it has been nearly a year since I first looked seriously at building a Genie. Things may have changed since then. When I first looked at the Genie I was disappointed. From what it was being touted as, I was expecting to be able to visit the web site with glue in hand, download some plans, and start building. Though there is a wealth of information on the Genie (and great tips for building in general), one still had to resort to ordering plans and wing cores. This was a big disappointment for me. Perhaps this partially explains the hit-to-build ratio. I looked at cutting my own cores, and communicated with you (Harley), Winston, and Les, and decided it wasn't going to happen. I think Les even phoned me to try to answer my questions. I'm pretty sure I could cut a Genie-ish core now, but it seems one can only buy Genie cores. It just didn't seem right that I couldn't scratch-build a supposedly scratch-built sailplane. Now for anyone still reading this, and interested in a Genie, please do investigate this wonderful ship for yourself. It looks like a worthy project one will be amply pleased with. It just wasn't what _I_ was looking for, but it maybe exactly what others are. And again, it has been a year since I last looked into the Genie. My $0.02 Canadian. P.S. See Harley for the latest info, but my very outdated site is at: http://isoar.ca/~andrewm/rc/genie/ -- Andrew E. Mileski RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
Re: [RCSE] BUILDING A GENIE OR LT/S THIS WINTER?
Kevin Sheen wrote: Andrew, When looking to cut your own cores, did you check out page one of file 03 - Wing, Genie and LT/S?? Here is a short excerpt: That info wasn't available when I last looked (Feb 2003). Les described something like that to me in a phone conversation back then, but not to such detail. Good to hear such info has been added. Thanks for the update. -- Andrew E. Mileski RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
Re: [RCSE] BUILDING A GENIE OR LT/S THIS WINTER?
Andrew, When looking to cut your own cores, did you check out page one of file 03 - Wing, Genie and LT/S?? Here is a short excerpt: The dimensions given (10.3, etc.), are Chord Length for plotting. .010 was used for Skin Thickness. For each wing, Sect.1 and 2 are the SA7036 airfoil thinned to 8.7%. This transitions to the full thickness SD7003 at the end of Sect. 3. Section 4 is the SD7003. There is no twist washout. The diagram above this verbage along with the above text is just about all you need in order to create your templates. No one else cut the cores of my Jouster II or my RES-MAXX, all the information needed is available. Now if you want to talk about the items that Harley so generously puts together for GENIE builders, let's do that. He has gone out of his way to buy bulk quantities of the spring steel, nylon, rubber, and aluminum so that you and I can easily and conveniently buy a miscellaneous hardware pack that saves us from buying a ROLL of spring steel and multiple feet of aluminum, etc. Plans for 7.50 (clearly indicating for GENIE AND LT/S) is a pretty reasonable deal. Have you seen plans selling from MA, RCM, MAN, etc recently? You're gonna be hard pressed to find a plan for 7 bucks. Add all of that to a recently available composite fuselage. Clearly, it is a labor of love. I think Harley's real passion must be seeing other individuals discover an aspect of the hobby that he has enjoyed for decades (what else would explain the number of e-mails that he answers privately - for me it was dozens and dozens). just my opinion, Kevin At 07:11 PM 12/17/2004 -0500, you wrote: Harley Michaelis wrote: Since I first mentioned this spring of posting of the GENIE CD content at http://genie.rchomepage.com/, there have been well over 5,000 hits. That many intentional visits tells me people are looking for worthy airframe projects. Yet, but a few dozen inquiries have come in and fewer yet have committed to building. Harley, Keep in mind it has been nearly a year since I first looked seriously at building a Genie. Things may have changed since then. When I first looked at the Genie I was disappointed. From what it was being touted as, I was expecting to be able to visit the web site with glue in hand, download some plans, and start building. Though there is a wealth of information on the Genie (and great tips for building in general), one still had to resort to ordering plans and wing cores. This was a big disappointment for me. Perhaps this partially explains the hit-to-build ratio. I looked at cutting my own cores, and communicated with you (Harley), Winston, and Les, and decided it wasn't going to happen. I think Les even phoned me to try to answer my questions. I'm pretty sure I could cut a Genie-ish core now, but it seems one can only buy Genie cores. It just didn't seem right that I couldn't scratch-build a supposedly scratch-built sailplane. Now for anyone still reading this, and interested in a Genie, please do investigate this wonderful ship for yourself. It looks like a worthy project one will be amply pleased with. It just wasn't what _I_ was looking for, but it maybe exactly what others are. And again, it has been a year since I last looked into the Genie. My $0.02 Canadian. P.S. See Harley for the latest info, but my very outdated site is at: http://isoar.ca/~andrewm/rc/genie/ -- Andrew E. Mileski RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
Re: [RCSE] BUILDING A GENIE OR LT/S THIS WINTER?
Harley Michaelis wrote: Since I first mentioned this spring of posting of the GENIE CD content at http://genie.rchomepage.com/, there have been well over 5,000 hits. That many intentional visits tells me people are looking for worthy airframe projects. Yet, but a few dozen inquiries have come in and fewer yet have committed to building. Harley, Keep in mind it has been nearly a year since I first looked seriously at building a Genie. Things may have changed since then. When I first looked at the Genie I was disappointed. From what it was being touted as, I was expecting to be able to visit the web site with glue in hand, download some plans, and start building. Though there is a wealth of information on the Genie (and great tips for building in general), one still had to resort to ordering plans and wing cores. This was a big disappointment for me. Perhaps this partially explains the hit-to-build ratio. I looked at cutting my own cores, and communicated with you (Harley), Winston, and Les, and decided it wasn't going to happen. I think Les even phoned me to try to answer my questions. I'm pretty sure I could cut a Genie-ish core now, but it seems one can only buy Genie cores. It just didn't seem right that I couldn't scratch-build a supposedly scratch-built sailplane. Now for anyone still reading this, and interested in a Genie, please do investigate this wonderful ship for yourself. It looks like a worthy project one will be amply pleased with. It just wasn't what _I_ was looking for, but it maybe exactly what others are. And again, it has been a year since I last looked into the Genie. My $0.02 Canadian. P.S. See Harley for the latest info, but my very outdated site is at: http://isoar.ca/~andrewm/rc/genie/ -- Andrew E. Mileski RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
[RCSE] BUILDING A GENIE OR LT/S THIS WINTER?
Since I first mentioned this spring of posting of the GENIE CD content at http://genie.rchomepage.com/, there have been well over 5,000 hits. That many intentional visits tells me people are looking for worthy airframe projects. Yet, but a few dozen inquiries have come in and fewer yet have committed to building. The continuing operation of suppliers of raw materials such as Sig, Balsa USA, Lone Star Models, ACP, CST, Superior Balsa and Hobby Supply, etc. indicates there must be scratch builders out there creating a market for such materials. Over the years starting back from the mid '60's I had 17 construction articles of my original designs published. Several were kitted and some 5,000 sold, but I think more were scratch built from the magazine plans. People still talk about the Miskeet, Mod-Pod, Keetah, Orca, Buzzbat, Jouster, etc. However, compared to what was involved to scratch build in the 70's and 80's, what is available now to build a big GENIE or an LT/S makes it significantly easier. Further, the capabilities of these airframes are such to hold their own among contemporary ARF's that cost 3-4 times as much. Between the GENIE plans, the web pages, the quality items available like the composite fuse, Les Horvath's superior cores and my e-mail help with questions, modelers have never had such extensive and thorough support available. I do wonder why more builders do not take advantage of this opportunity to build these sophisticated, state-of-the-art scratch buildable airframes. Does the idea of building something that can compete with ARF's intimidate you or do you have personally designed ones to scratch build? Building one of my ships is a modeling education in and of itself you'll not likely get elsewhere and its free. Why not join in this winter and have a brand new GENIE or LT/S to show off this spring? No more copping out with lame excuses. Of course you can it. Just get the things needed as detailed in the web pages and follow the building nstructions. Questions?? e-mail me. RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.