Anyone built a Reichard Glider in recent years ?

[Andrew Moore 7]

Just purchased a Reichard Elipsoid Evo Pro 2.8M powered glider.

Surprised at the lack of (and poor) instructions supplied on a few pieces of photocopy.

Anyone actually built one of these before ? Do you know of any decent walk-throughs or proper instructions ? Even the basics don't seem to be covered yet the model looks quite well put together.

Purchased it from T9 - waiting to hear fro them but I'm not hopeful

[PatMc]

I built a Reichard Classic some time ago. The instructions were a joke, worst part being that the elevator linkage shown was completely impractical. Also the unassembled parts weighed more than the empty weight claimed in the technical data. RTF weight of mine is 50% greater - that's with 3s 2000 lipo the instructions called for 8-10 GP 2200 nicads. (I initially flew mine with 10 x 1700 4/5C nicads.)
However once the model was finished it looked very nice & has a good all round performance. It has a very good speed range is quite aerobatic & thermals well albeit with a tendency to tip stall if handled coarsely.

[John Lee]

Likewise the Barracuda I built some time ago. Poor instructions & the elevator linkage supplied was a metre long piece of 22SWG piano wire in unsupported tubing that turned through 80 degrees in the fin with so much slop that it just would not work.

However once sorted it flew very well indeed.

There is a theme developing here.

[Geoff Parkes]

I also built a Classic some time ago, as previously mentioned the elevator linkage was just not up to "fast" flying if you came out of a dive there was so much slop in the snake run that the elevator would be ineffective, this with the poor method of holding the motor in the nose,I lost a motor out of the nose, the rearward C/G which resulted was the demise of the glider, this was my first and last experience with Reichard gliders .

[PatMc]

Geoff, I don't think you're refering to the Classic, unless there were different versions of it. Mine was designed to have the elevator servo built into the fin, only the rudder has a snake linkage from a servo in the nose.
A clubmate had a Champion which did have the elevator servo in the nose with a snake linkage. He'd built it as per "instructions(?)". I flew it for him a couple of times to help establish the trims. It was an absolute pig with double neutral & elevator flutter at anything over slow speed.

Andrew, I think the Ellipsoid has a similar elevator servo arrangement to the Classic, in fact I think it may use the same or a modified version of the same fuselage. If that's the case, if it's any help I have some images showing how I arranged the pushrod linkage with the elevator horn in a better position.

[John Lee]

I ended up with the same solution for the Barracuda - scrapped the snake & put a Hitec HS 125MG thin wing servo in the fin.

[YakMad]

I built a Variant 2, many years ago, the instructions were not great but you had the option of the elevator servo in the fuz with a snake type linkage or in the fin which is where I installed it as the snake linkage was just hopeless. I still have it, it flies extremely well although I did have to adjust the incidence of the tailplane as it was moulded into the top of the fin incorrectly.

[Steve Colman]

A friend of mine has a Reichard Proxima 2 which seems to fly extremely well. Last weekend I was at an F5J type event in which one of the competitors was flying an Elipsoid (non flap version). I spoke to him about the model and he absolutely loved it and was considering buying the Evo Pro version. I've had one on my list for some time too but find myself leaning towards an alternative from Topmodel cz.

[Geoff Parkes]

Pat, you are probably right it could have been a Champion, its a few years ago and for the reasons explained I did not have the glider for long, I think the snakes were solid rod and installed in the fuselage, so it was not possible to modify, but it did put me off gliders for good.