Fantasia 2.5m RE glider

[Jonathan M]

Picked up a Fantasia 2.5m glider for £10 from a club auction last week, very well built by a member from a Balsa Cabin kit and in superb nick, just needs a RX and battery. (It was described by the auctioneer as a Sonata or a Fantasia, but the Sonata seems from the Balsa Cabin website to have a 2m span).

Question is what can I do with it? I have this idea that I can bungee-launch it on good, relatively calm days for some low-stress thermal hunting. Or I can retro-fit an electric motor for self-launching. But I don't really want to invest too much time or money, at this stage anyway.

What are they like?

Jon

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Frank Skilbeck]

Jon

Have a go with a bungee first, we've had great fun with a RE Bird of Time trying to sniff out those elusive thermals (best flight todate just short of 25 mins). Also the bungee will give you a better launch if there is some breeze.

[Jonathan M]

Cheers guys for the feedback.

I'd certainly like to see how I get on with bungee launching a 2.5m polyhedral ship; I like the idea of its low-tech, low-cost simplicity.

I've done much less DLG with my Blaster3 than I expected last year, as its weight when twisting for launch was putting an uncomfortable strain on my weak lower back. My best previous flight with the 1m Elf DLG, also just RE, was about seven minutes, but this is really too small to launch high enough and difficult for me to see at distance. So hopefully the Fantasia will give me something I can play with at reasonable heights.

Jon

[Jonathan M]

PS

What would be the ideal thickness/length of bungee for the Fantasia, and what sort/length of line?

I see Hyperflight does 15m of 8mm silicone bungee (gosh! £35) - would this be sufficient?

[Cuban8]

I'd go for an electric conversion. Cotton covered (luggage strap type) bungees are next to useless and decent surgical rubber tube versions (are they even still available?) were never cheap and would deteriorate quite rapidly even when well cared for.  A nuisance to peg out/ roll away/ fight dogs off who always find them irresistable to chew as well. No choice in the old pre-electric days, I'd never go back to all that faffing about. Mind you, launching a 4M thermal job on a bungee into a 20 knot plus wind used to get the blood circulating.

Edited By Cuban8 on 27/01/2018 21:15:34

[Frank Skilbeck]

Posted by Jonathan M on 27/01/2018 18:59:57:

PS

What would be the ideal thickness/length of bungee for the Fantasia, and what sort/length of line?

I see Hyperflight does 15m of 8mm silicone bungee (gosh! £35) - would this be sufficient?

Yes, but you want around 85m of nylon line with it, this will give you 100m plus launches. You might want to put a wanted ad on BARCS and/or BMFA, there maybe somebody who has a complete system they are not using. We got ours from a clubmate who found it in a workshop clearout. Yes electric might be more convenient/easier but a bungee launch is quite good fun and satisfying, like DLG without the arm ache.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[PatMc]

You'll also need about 120mtr of 40lb - 80lb breaking strain line & a suitable form of stake. It's important that the stake is really secure, it needs to be something like this dog restraining stake, anything less secure can be dangerous to anyone near the anchor point if it pulls out whilst the bungee is under tension.
The size & layout of you're flying field needs to be carefully considered as well as other users, including helicopter & fixed wing power flyers, also any dog walkers etc.

Personaly, since electric power self launch became practical I gave up bungee launching as too much hassle.

The Fantasia was produced by Flying Ace Kits, they also produced the Rhapsody which was an electric powered version of it. Recommended power was a geared 600 motor & 7 nickel cells. If both models had similar width nose areas the conversion of the Fantasia for a suitable outrunner should be fairly straightforward. A power combo giving around 100 - 200W power should give a moderate to brisk launch depending on the AUW of the model.

An quick alternative that involves no surgery to the existing model might be a power pod if it can be suitably mounted. It would need a higher KV motor than a nose mounted motor as the prop size would be restricted & it would be aerodynamicaly "dirtier". However the power pod could be made as a stand alone unit with the motor, lipo & Esc built in and also it's own Rx independant of the existing Rx.
The existing Rx/servos/battery wouldn't need to be altered & the model could be flown without the pod if required.

[Cuban8]

Jonathan, if you have an athletic friend or member of your family available, you can always launch just using a simple tow-line. That's all we used in thermal comps back in the 70s/80s.

Dead cheap, just 50M or so of light  nylon fishing line to start with and a parachute or pennant at the tow ring end. Increase the tow line length as you gain experience.

 

Edited By Cuban8 on 28/01/2018 10:18:43

[Jonathan M]

Cheers Guys

Thanks for the input. I appreciate the advice on electrification (and never mind cardiac arrest territory!) but I'm inclined for now to go down the High Start route.

Interestingly, over on BARCS there's a 2m RES monthly challenge/comp (a very small but dedicated following based on the popularity of this class in Germany/Austria and increasingly the US), so if I can get the hang of launching/thermalling the Fantasia then I might be tempted to buy a CNC kit for this from Hyperflight: **LINK**

Jon

[FilmBuff]

Posted by Cuban8 on 28/01/2018 10:06:57:

Jonathan, if you have an athletic friend or member of your family available, you can always launch just using a simple tow-line. That's all we used in thermal comps back in the 70s/80s.

Dead cheap, just 50M or so of light nylon fishing line to start with and a parachute or pennant at the tow ring end. Increase the tow line length as you gain experience.

Edited By Cuban8 on 28/01/2018 10:18:43

Nice video - but that's an F1A Free Flight glider on the 50M lines. He's also circle towing, meaning he can keep the model on the tow line more or less indefinitely until he finds lift, or collapses from exhaustion! The special hook also allowed for a zoom launch - all without radio.

RC thermal soarers used 150M line - and in windless conditions you needed a very fit towman.

[PatMc]

Posted by FilmBuff on 29/01/2018 18:14:46:

Posted by Cuban8 on 28/01/2018 10:06:57:

Jonathan, if you have an athletic friend or member of your family available, you can always launch just using a simple tow-line. That's all we used in thermal comps back in the 70s/80s.

Dead cheap, just 50M or so of light nylon fishing line to start with and a parachute or pennant at the tow ring end. Increase the tow line length as you gain experience.

Edited By Cuban8 on 28/01/2018 10:18:43

Nice video - but that's an F1A Free Flight glider on the 50M lines. He's also circle towing, meaning he can keep the model on the tow line more or less indefinitely until he finds lift, or collapses from exhaustion! The special hook also allowed for a zoom launch - all without radio.

RC thermal soarers used 150M line - and in windless conditions you needed a very fit towman.

The Fantasia is a fairly light model & wouldn't need to be towed very fast. Windless conditions are rare in the UK, in fact if there's any thermal activity there's sure to be some breeze so anyone who can manage a brisk walking pace should manage to tow a Fantasia up in all but the rarest of days.

[Jonathan M]

I'm not running anywhere two surgical ops on my dicky ankle is more than enough!

I've now in fact the proud owner of a complete Airtronics Super Start set with 30m of 8mm surgical cord, 120m of monofilament, parachute, dog-stake, etc! It is all in excellent nick so all I have to do is be patient for the right weather.

The model weighs 46oz all up, with 5.5 sq ft wing area, so a loading of 8.4 oz per sq ft - light enough to thermal, heavy enough to penetrate.

I need to fit a RX, so might try one of the inexpensive Lemon ones with altimeter - my Spektrum DX7 G2 has telemetry.

Jon

[Nightflyer]

The Fantasia and Sonata are great designs as was the Ravello from Balsa Cabin. My Sonata clocked up many hours of flying under electric power before it went to a new owner. The Ravello I still have and fly and that is bungee launched and is also a great thermal soarer. You could without too much difficulty modify the Fantasia if you get fed up faffing with the bungee. Hope you have many hours of flying.

[Jonathan M]

Thanks!

[Thomas May]

I look forward to hearing how she flies, I'm nearing completion on a kit build of a fantasia. Just got to finish off the wing/hatch fairing and give it a final sanding before covering it, I was tempted to cut the nose off and put a motor in be decided against it when I found my old hi-start in good nic, also looking forward to some summer evenings up the hills stooging about.

Tom

[Andy Butler]

The electric version was the Rhapsody, I still have mine. I recovered it a couple of years ago and fitted electric airbrakes as I've nearly lost it several times. It will climb very quickly on the merest sniff of lift and I've had it up to speck height from a hand launch on occasions too.

[Jonathan M]

Just a correction: I subsequently found out that the model isn't a Fantasia at all, but is in fact an Osprey 100, plans can be seen here **LINK**

But to be fair, most 100" RE gliders of the era are pretty similar in appearance, so the guy I bought it off can be forgiven for 'misleading' me as to its name.

Thomas, as it happens it bungees very well to between 125 and 150m and dead air times are around three minutes. Not been the best month or so for thermal flying, but did get a happy five minutes the first time out (by flying where the kites were flying!) and look forward to some low-stress summer fun in due course.

[Steve Coombs]

Re. Balsa Cabin Fantasia. I've just bought a complete model, I would like to know position of CofG. Please can anyone help, or know where I can obtain a copy of the plan? Also does anyone have a copy of Silent Flight magazine from October/November 1992 for sale, which has a review of the Balsa Cabin Fantasia. Thanks.