Gregory Morris wrote:
>
> What is the best all around competition TD ship out there?
>
Greg,
A number of people have asked this question in the past. Very often the
replies advise that repairing moulded sailplanes is difficult or
impossible, and I see that you have been advised that way as well. I
don't agree.
I have been unfortunate enough, or incompetent enough, to suffer five
serious crashes with moulded sailplanes over the past several years.
Four of them were easy to repair, one was a write-off.
The first time I crashed a moulded model I was certain it was a
write-off. Fortunately a couple of those present advised me how to
approach the repair task and I was surprised how easy it turned out to
be. My Pike Plus was soon ready to fly again. It flew as well as ever,
and looked nearly as good as ever. I wrote a short article, on the
repair methods I used, for our club Newsletter, and I can send you a
copy if you are interested. The point of the article was not that I was
an expert at repairs, but that I could achieve a good repair despite
lack of expertise and experience.
I have found it easier to repair moulded wings than veneered foam or
wooden ones. I have no experience with glass over foam repairs.
In moulded wings the glass or carbon skins are a sandwich stabalised by
a thin core of either balsa or foam sheet, usually balsa. All the
repairs I have done have been on wings that used balsa. I think that
those that use foam would be little different, providing suitable
adhesives are used, but I have no experience of them.
I suspect that most of those who say repairing moulded wings is
difficult have not tried it.
Judging by the advertising in US magazines moulded models are quite a
bit more expensive than those that use other construction methods. The
situation is a little different in Australia. There are a couple of
locally produced kits, with balsa veneered foam wings, that are quite
good for competition flying and are reasonably cheap, but they are also
becoming outdated. Due to freight costs and exchange rates, sailplanes
from the USA are now about the same price as the Eastern European
moulded models. Consequently most people prefer the moulded designs, or
the low cost local products, and sailplanes from the USA become rarer
each year.
Of course you must take initial cost, and patriotism, into account in
your decision, and that may lead you to choose a design with a foam
cored wing, but don't let fear of repairs be the reason not to buy a
moulded plane.
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Ian Roach Kiama, NSW Australia
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 61 2 4232 1775
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