Mike, The Sidewinder is close but I think $300 for the kit may still be a bit much for the young folks when you consider the all up cost will be about $425 if you build it yourself.
Louisville's little Lee has progressed very nicely flying a bunch of woodies early on and getting the most out of them. If there was a similar kind of plane for handlaunch it may bring the really young crowd in earlier. I doubt Lee could have gone for a Sidewinder a year or so ago. The issue to me is that the first step in handlaunch has a tall cost of entry. My son Brendan who is 21 now bought a used XP-4 from Jeff Carr last year. It just about tapped out his life savings even though it was a fair price for a used XP-4. He had a tip strike a few months ago and delaminated the skin. It is fixable but time is short right now. The Gambler is more like what I was thinking. It has decent performance and is cheap to get flying. Now if only there were contests based on this kind of plane. Just think of the new talent it could attract and when they get to the point of going for a big bagged plane they will have all the skills they learned in the more beginner class. Mark Miller ----- Original Message ---- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Mark Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 4:17:56 PM Subject: RE: [RCSE] An argument for handlaunch. Hey Mark, Does the Sidewinder from Polecata fill the bill, or is that still a little beyond what you were thinking for target price? Just curious. Mike -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [RCSE] An argument for handlaunch. From: Mark Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, July 30, 2008 11:51 am To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], TG Bean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [email protected] I also agree with Ben in that Handlaunch is breathing new life into soaring. We have seen it here in St. Louis. While there may not be many new members produced from it yet it sure has rekindled excitement from many of the current members. I, like Chris, go back to the beginnings of HLG. I built a Sunbird when Dave's article came out and have been with it ever since. I designed some old style HLG javelin type models and loved them. I have not participated much since DLG came about mostly because I had other things I wanted to do but I'm restarting again. I like the amount you get to fly, the simplicity of it all and the contest format makes you think more than I have to in TD. "Do I launch again and risk that 2 minute flight or do I walk away and see where the chips fall?" for example. What I would like to see, and I do not know how realistic it is, would be a beginners class of handlaunch. Something where you do not need a $600 DLG machine or a $400 used beater where you spend more time chasing wing de laminations than flying. Something where you can learn flying and thermaling skills and move your way into the big leagues. I do not know if it is wood built ups on a mini high start or not. While that format is fun it is really just all up, last down over and over. Maybe a 1 meter DLG class? I'm not bright enough to figure it all out but I feel there needs to be something. Mark Miller Missing the NATS Greatly 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. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format 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. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
