Wildflecken

[Roger Jepps]

Hi There new member.
I have recently aquired a complete and unstarted vintage Wildflecken 12' span Thermal Soarer kit. The text states it was designed by Roy Pitts and manufactured by Mike Sharman Models. Can anyone throw any light on its history and or experiences of building and flying this model, in particular whether there were ever any reviews written that may still be obtainable. Any info to make this project more interesting would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks Roger.

[Chris Dickens]

Roger
This is a mid to late 70's design and there were reviews in the mags at the time(30 years ago!!, there were only two mags then the defunct radio Modeller and RCM&E!!!so no chance of getting back numbers.
I built one in the early 80's, got it cheap from the model shop as it was 'old stock' I can't remember much about the build but I would be surprised if there were any problems as the Wildflecken was regarded as a bit of a Rols Royce of kits.
Not much here but I hope it is of help.
Chris

[Roger Jepps]

Chris.
Many thanks for your insight into the origins of the Wildflecken kit. You are right of it being a Rolls Royce of kits, with a superbly crafted two piece fuz prefitted with its servo rails etc and a great idea in that no plans are supplied or indeed required just the illustrated instruction book as the wing rib plans etc are preprinted then built on eight sheets of 8" x 36" wing veeners. Along with everything you require in the hardware packs are as standard a set of twelve Modular airbrakes. Looking forward to the project. Thanks again for your reply. Regards Roger.

[Chris Dickens]

Roger
I had completely forgotten about the pre-printed wing sheets, It's all coming back now!
There was one on Ebay a few weeks ago, I bid for it, but not seriously, was this the one you got?
Chris

[Roger Jepps]

Chris.
I occasionally browse Ebay for anything vintage but the Wildflecken I managed to find at the S.A.M.S do at Old Warden. They always have an informal model boot. The contents box looked a bit sad after being around for thirty years I suppose but from what I could see of the kit it looked pretty much all there, took a chance and luckily upon checking against the parts list everything was there and in perfect condition. Very pleased. Regards Roger.

[David Holroyd]

Roger,

I built a wildflecken in 1980/81 and have just re-furbished and put new radio gear in it! I bought the fuz only and drew plans for the wings - copying a fellow flyer's model.  A couple of points:

1 - keep the tail as light as possible or you'll end up needing a big lump of lead at the front!  Obvious I know, but the short nose makes this problem more marked. 

2 - build in about 3/16" washout in the tip panels otherwise it will have a tendency to tip stall.

3 - the 2 x 6 swg wing joiners are probably at the lower limit and permit the wings to bend quite a bit on a normal bungee launch.  I am making a new set of wings with a larger main spar and joiner to try to reduce this flexing.

On calm days this glider is (was!!) unbeatable fun!   Enjoy. David

[Roger Jepps]

Hi David. 

 I have been away from the site for some time,  but many thanks for the info.  I will be starting the Wildflecken build over the winter months and will certainly be taking your useful advice and observations on board.  Best regards Roger.

[Erfolg]

Post some pictures of the kit content and your build. It will certainly interest me.

I have only heard of the model, I guess it is similar to the "Clean Machine" and the "Bird of Time" (the BOT).

Look foreword to your build (you are not going to put it on top of the wardrobe are you? and periodicly druel over the box).

Regards

Erfolg  

[Roger Jepps]

Hi.

I certainly intend to build kit over the winter, time permitting.  To give an idea of content I will post some pics of the kit of parts as soon as poss.

 Regards Roger.

[David Homewood]

Hi

I am building a Wildflecken MK11 that my dad brought for me at an auction.

Sticking to build as per instuctions, but have upgraded main wing spars to carbon, and lightened tail

Might change airbrake system, thanks for tip from David Holroyd about washout on tips

Biggest trouble is 12 ft wing takes up a lot on space.. !!!

Going together fine though - will be flying in three to four weeks

Wings to be profilm

[Erfolg]

It is interesting that you are thinking of different air brakes. At the time that the model was designed servos were expensive, big, heavy affairs and only used sparingly. In consequence to this state of affairs most air brakes were either "Letter Box" or "Single sided scissor" types operated from a central location

I have noticed that with the advent of cheap, small and light servos, that so called crow braking is often preffered. These seem to be far more effective and controllable, as both Lift and Drag are used, as opposed to drag only..

It may not be in keeping, with the era but possibly a better set up.

The same goes with aerolon, better to have a servo per surface.

I have a Ridge Rover (from the same era) with a centrally placed pair of servos, driving flapprons, at best marginal. If I rebuild it, I will give each surface a servo( going from 2 to 4).

Erfolg

[David Holroyd]

David,

I recently managed to source an un-started kit, a luxury i never had when I built my first Flecken.  I plan to make the following amendments:

Wing mounted servo's to drive the letterbox type airbrakes that I installed on my original model.  They were more than adequate as I recall.  Clearly they are never likely to be as effective as crow brakes.

Carbon spar and stronger main spar joiner.

Central panels to be 46" long (out of 48" stock) so that tip panels have 2" of centre panel attached to them (as originally designed the tip panels were 24" attached to 10" of centre panels which are cumbersome to transport without damaging them).

Good luck with the build.

David

[Peter Wood]

Does anyone have any photos, or part built kit..

[David Homewood]

Hi Peter

Haven't been taking photos during the build as, but can do some now - model is nearly finished and will be flying in a couple of weeks - have put servoes in wings for brakes - Hitec 56 - fitted fine - depth just right - upgraded wing joiners to carbon and have neat fixing method to hold tail on - Hitec 225 for Rudder / Elevator - not putting in releasable towhook but fitting adjustable - covering in profilm - yellow on top - blue underneath.

Thanks

[Scouserexile]

Hi - I've just found this forum - been on RcGroups for a while

I have a Wildflecken 120inch which I completed in 2004 - bought from the original owner who had started building it with his son back in the 1970s & stored it since. Actually, he duplicated the kit - I sold the other parts on to someone a couple of years ago - I hope they built it & got it flying. The design dates from the early 1970s, and was pretty successful at thermal soring competitions at that time. You could build it as either a 144 inch or 120 inch wing.

Mine flies great from the slope in light wind. I added Graupner pop-up airbrakes with micro servos embedded in each wing - helps a lot in landing it. I've also used the wings on an electric fus for flat field soaring.

Here's some pics of the completed glider & duplicate parts etc.

Any questions - please ask.

(also, I'm considering selling it if anyones interested)

Phil

[Peter Wood]

I may be interested depending how much and were it is

Peter

[Scouserexile]

Hi Peter - message sent to you

Phil 

[Alan Bevan]

 For a nostalgia event at Ivinghoe next year, does anyone know where I can get hoid of a, 'Wildflecken ' kit, or just the fuselage ?

[Rich Lean]

I've still got a the original review of the Wildflecken 144 somewhere (in Radio Control Models, if I remember rightly. I haven't read it for years, but it stuck in my mind and always wanted to get my hands on one (too young at the time).

Back then it was quite a quantum leap compared to all the real lightweight "floaters" which were dominant at the time - almost like scaled-up free flight A2's with strongly undercambered wings. This was much higher loaded, faster and slicker.

I remember the the reviewer was caught out by the flat glide on his first landing and eventually put it down 100 yards beyond his planned landing point - and found the only gravel footpath in the field!

Have fun -  I'm jealous!

[Roger Titmuss]

Hi Roger, I owned and flew a Wildflecken for many years in the 80s and when I first took it to flying field I ask a guy who I thought was an experienced model flyer to gve me a hand launch so I could trim it out. The idiot threw it like an javalin thrower. The model bent a bit and went up nearly 50 feet in the air and stayed there for nearly a minute. I never asked him again. It proved to be the best glider I had ever flown and on some balmy evenings in summer it would just stay up for as long as you wanted it to . Do enjoy yours when you have it built.

Kind regards ROGER

[BARRY COOPER]

       I still have a new unused  set of modular airbrakes as used on the Wildflecken.    They are not as effective as letter box type brakes,but if anyone is interested in them, get in touch.    A tip is to fit a couple of pins into tailplane leading edge adjacent to fin, a small rubber band fitted across pins will retain tailplane in flight.   {I know what happens when not fitted.  My tailplane came off , model went inverted ,and luckily landed upside down without any damage.

Barry C.

[Stubee]

Apologies for dragging this thread up but I have just got one of these models. Looks nice and looking forward to flying it. I wonder if anyone may know any finer details such as CofG and control movements. Mine has a huge lump of lead in the nose (fus on its own weighs over a kilo). Having said that there are strips of tape 2 3/4" back which is about 1/3 of chord. Not when the 'maiden' wiill be as the Wx forcast don't look good for the next few days

[GeeW]

Stubee

The designers son is contactable on the RCMF website and is happy to help. I spoke with him recently with regards to another of Roy Pitts designs, the Sirocco, which I am slowly building.

If you're stuck send me a PM and I'll give you his mobile number.

 

Regards

 

Gordon

[Stubee]

Thanks GeeW, I'll have a ask over there.

I flew it today and went quite well (about 7kt gentle breeze), though the wing flex was a little off putting! Can't wait for some lovely thermic days. It's perhaps a little nose heavy. Landing was beautiful (once I could get it down). Need to take a chair and slippers next time I fly.

[ntsmith]

I have trying to source one of these for the last year. Some people have all the luck.

I had one and if flew from flat fields from the slope, tow line etc. You name it and it did it. It flew from silly little hills that you wouldnt dare throw a 48" model off let alone a 12' model. How come? Because of its versatility and you just got to be at one with it. You thought where you wanted to go and it went.

One of the best - correction - the best glider I ever had.