Wednesday 18 July 2012

It's heavy!

Ballast is now more and more important to competition gliders and trying to load up to the legal loading permitted has recently created a big demand for extra ballast. Fine if your new competition glider already has provision but many don't and the stock 900g- ish is woefully inadequate now for most gliders out there!

Our new pre-preg carbon standard tubes for 19-20mm diameter ballast, super strong and light (approx 20g for 400mm)

14mm square ballast x 50mm x 5. One in each wing half not enough? 

Tube made in carbon sock (2 layers) and brass slugs beautifully machined.

20x10mm brass rectangular section x 75mm long each one weighs 115g. Ideal for wing location typically in the thinner part behind the joiner. Tube this time is made in pre preg carbon.

Small wing ballast 9.5mm diameter, each weighing approx 85g for 10mm ballast tubes.
We have been increasingly asked for ballast and tubes to accommodate retro-fitting extra weight. We now have a tubes either made in Pre preg carbon or carbon sock. These are immensely strong and light with wall thicknesses typically 0.4mm. Of course we have the ballast to go with them. So if you want to put in ballast tubes in the wings, for instance, where there were none before, it's quite easy. We use expanding epoxy to bond tubes inside wings, which is perfect for the job and very strong and light.

So if you want to go fast start getting heavy!

  

Monday 2 July 2012

We are committed to producing 6 new models this year. The first, the Schwing is already with us and will shortly be released to our distributors worldwide. 2 will be kept underwraps until we have prototypes but lets just say that the 20 year old Vector design and all it's guises has undergone some serious R+D to update and we are now beginning lay ups!
But one we can leak a sneak teaser is 'The Hurricane'. Same design wings and tails as James's best selling model the Typhoon but with some long overdue improvements:
Stronger joiner and a massive 36x12mm (from the Schwing).
Stronger reinforced boom as standard especially behind the TE where the originals all seem to break.
Longer nose by 60mm to make radio installation much easier.
Optional elevator servo installation in the fin using a 10g servo. This will make very little difference in wt as the bell crank weighs 6g anyway but slop free elevator control, oh yes!

Same wings, same sweet handling and safe characteristics
Only thing is now with bigger spars and huge joiner.
Tails same section too and AMT design
2 prototypes being made for testing, not quite there yet 

Just what this design deserves I'd say and these refinements are sure to make one of the best beginners/ intermeadiate mouldies around even better! Anyway we'll be finding out soon enough...