Gliders from Auction - Electric Assist?

[Plummet]

We, that is Flappit and I, bought a couple of gliders in a club auction. They both look very similar. One is 1.5m span, the other, 1.7m. They have conventional low tailplanes, their fuselages are balsa, and their wings are, I suspect, foam cored. They are both at least 20 years old, but in good condition.

Since neither Flappit nor I are good at walking on rough ground, the idea of sloping them does not initially appeal - we are both new to gliders.

So, I think we should electric assist them into the air. Is this criminal?

Assuming that we do, what sort of wattage should we be aiming for?

If it means anything, I would prefer to avoid the high pitched screaming type of electric power. Are larger folding props reasonable in price?

Are add-on power pods a realistic option?

Please discuss.

Yours,

Plummet

[PatMc]

A lot depends on the weight & general type of model they are. They seem quite small to be considered thermal soarers if they have foam wings.

A photo or two, the weight & aprox wing areas would help to get you some help.

PS I'd avoid power pods & graft a motor into the nose of each if at all possible.

Edited By PatMc on 05/12/2013 00:04:59

[Plummet]

I shall wait for daylight for some photos, perhaps.

Plummet

[Frank Skilbeck]

If you are going to make them electric assist then grafting a motor onto the nose would be my option, but as PatMc says this would put the weight up and at that wingspan they wouldn't thermal very well and would be more like powered planes.

The other options would be

1) Put hooks on the underside and bungy launch them, great fun and you can launch and land until you run out of receiver battery, but if you don't hit any lift then flights will be 2 to 3 mins each. Hobbyking do the bungy here, two lengths of this with 80m of fishing line a stake and ring and you are away. A parachute on the bungy helps bring it back to you but a simple streamer would do the job also.

2) Put an aerotow release in the nose e.g MPX AERO-TOW COUPLING Part no 723470 , 30m of line and you could aerotow these with a 40 size trainer, even more fun and you can tow the gliders upto greater heights and have more chance of catching the thermals. Note the tow hitch on the tow plane needs to be a few inched behind the c of g not on the tail, just behind the wing trailing edge works well. When towing all the glider pilot has to do is keep the wings level, let the tug do all the steering and have a finger on the tow release for if it all goes wrong.