Gordy;
The Addiction is an unlimited Thermal Duration glider that's had a lot of
success in SOCAL during the last few years. In fact, it was second on the
prestigious Southern California Soaring Clubs (SC2) circuit two years ago
and won last year. It's also flown by approximately half the master pilots
in the well known Torrey Pines Gulls club (TPG) to great effect. It's
relatively unknown in other parts of the country because I haven't made the
effort to advertise.
The glider was originally designed by JJ Johnson about three years ago, but
he quickly realized that you can't make a living making toy airplanes. He
promptly sold the mold to Hank Schorz who encouraged me to make wings,
stabs and rudder for the glider. In its original incarnation, the
Addiction was a double taper 118" glider with 900 square inches and a 15-1
aspect ratio and a SD7037 airfoil. It could easily be completed to fly at
56 ounces and a wing loading of less than 9 ounces per square foot. With a
clean design and light wing loading, it floated better than the
competition.
Since then, the glider has been further developed to include a quad taper
wing with 920 square inches. Spyder foam in the root panel and a new
bi-directional carbon fiber cloth full span top and bottom make the glider
virtually indestructible on launch. The glider can still be built light
(about 58) ounces, but seems to launch a little better and range a little
better at about 62 ounces with a wing loading of 9.5 ounces per square foot.
Since it's largely a custom buildup, I've done wings of anywhere between
116" and 125". I've also done Addiction wings with 7035, 7036,
7035-36-37 blend, RG 15, S7080 and MH 32 airfoils. The shoulder area of
the fuselage isn't sharply defined so any mismatch between wing and shoulder
can easily be covered with a layer of tape as the wing is attached.
The fuselage is highly streamlined, has a molded in skeg as well as a nose
cone and appropriate nose and tail moments for a 3+ meter TD glider. The
control runs are also absolutely straight from the servo to the tail
surfaces and the strength to weight ratio of the fuse is better than any
other TD fuse I know of. An Addiction fuse typically weighs about 8.3
ounces and is able to withstand hard dork landings with the addition of a
typical servo tray and anti-crush member at the leading edge. The fuse also
has carbon fiber reinforcement in the tail boom to negate boom flex on
aggressive launches as well as kevlar in high stress areas and double kevlar
reinforcement between the nose cone break and the wing leading edge. The
fuse comes with ply supports for the wing joiner rod and the stab locator
pin.
I'm now producing an Addiction semi-kit that has most items required to
complete the glider. Although not an ARF, it can typically be completed in
about 10 -12 hours. The wings are completely finished including the flaps
and ailerons cut out and beveled, the servo wire runs burned in and the
servo hatches cut out to match your choice of servo. The top surface is
painted a high gloss and durable epoxy white paint and the bottom surface is
left the natural black carbon fiber color for maximum visibility. The
only thing necessary to finish the wings is mount and wire your wing servos
and attach the supplied carbon fiber control horns and control rods. The
stabs and rudder are also complete including carbon fiber tubes in the
stabs, so it's really more a matter of assembly than of building. Also
included in the semi-kit are an aluminum 7075T6 heat treated and drilled
wing rod, a heavy duty tow hook, carbon fiber bellcrank, carbon fiber
control rods and sheaths, carbon fiber stab locator and drive pins, carbon
fiber control horns for the flaps and ailerons and, of course, the
Addiction fuselage.
The Addiction is at least as good as good as any other unlimited TD glider
currently available in any regime including launching, soaring, floating
or landing. If you were competing with one, your only limitation would be
your own ability and experience.
If interested in further information including price and availability,
please contact me off line.
Fred
RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and
"unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
