Hi Kurt The Sophicated Lady was my pick for a first plane when I re-entered our sport/hobby in '91. In answer to your question about the Electra Deluxe being the same wing, yes, it is. And it's a very strong wing as is.
Fortunately I joined SULA, a predominately thermal club here in Southern California at the same time as I was building the 'Lady. So the SULA guys where able to give me a couple of building tips which would strengthen the wing even further: 1. Add 1/4" medium hardness balsa shear webs (facing up) in between the top and bottom spars all the way out to the first section past the outboard poly break. These shear webs, in addition to the top planking already part of the Sophisticated Lady/Electra design will give you a balsa wing strong enough to withstand almost full pedal winch launches. (And you'll be able to loop and dive the Electra version with no fear of the wing folding.) 2. Add the spoiler option! I already had my wing too far along before I had my first talk with my SULA teachers so I missed out on one of the most important aspects of a first plane>> learning how to land it with relative precision in a small area. As far as the T-tail, I chose to put the horizontal stab down on the fuse in the more conventional position. Also, I split the elevator lengthwise and added 1/4" spacers. This gave me about 30% more elevator area and allows a more positive response. Inside the fuse I put 1/2"H x 4"L x 1/16" ply strips on either side of the fuse's rear. The midpoint of the ply is where the LE of the horizontal stab meets the fuse. Finally, I added 30% more area to the vertical stab/rudder. My Sophisicated Lady has gone off very powerful (dumb-foot actually) winch lauches and been blasted through trees (on non-spoilered landing attempts) on numerous occasions. She's even been crashed on a pop-up winch lauch with the radio turned off. And through it all she's always been rebuildable. For me she's been a great trainer. Patrick Hart -----Original Message----- From: gentledentalguy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 12:10 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [RCSE] sophisticated lady/spirit 100 questions Hello, I am new to soaring and have limited RC gas experience, but would like to get started and need some help. I was in a hobby store that was going out of business and picked up a sophisticated lady and a spirit 100 sailplane at half price. Now I'm wondering from what I've read if I've set myself up for some first time flier frustrations. I have an electra deluxe from carl goldberg and my first question is whether or not I can use this wing on a sophisticated lady (if it is the same wing or not) rather than building the one in the kit right off the bat. My next question is about the tail of the sophisticated lady. I've heard that it is rather flimsy...breaks easily and was wondering if anyone had built one and what they might recommend about reinforcing the tail. Finally, I've heard pros and cons on the spirit 100 as a beginner plane and would like any advice as to if I should master the airways with the sophisticated lady first or even if I should hold off on either of these two kits ....purchase another one to start out with. Thanks for your input. Kurt RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
