Cool New Stuff
Three great gliders, a gadget to carry them in and a mug to toast bringing ‘em back in one piece.
Astrid F3L
Ease-of-construction using traditional techniques combined with excellent flight performance.
The Astrid is a great performing glider for the FAI’s F3L class (also known as F3RES) which has ease-of-construction designed in from the start. Even those with little experience will manage to assemble this glider and likely be successful the first time.
With a span of 1984mm , wing area of 34dm² and an all-up-weight of around 450g, the Astrid is lightly loaded at around 13g/dm². That makes long flights possible even with small thermals in marginal conditions. The Astrid is designed to almost fly on its own given it’s stability on all axes.
The flat-bottomed AG37–39 airfoil makes the wing easy to construct accurately using a simple, traditional building board. Even so, the Astrid sacrifices little with respect to performance and provides very good flight characteristics after an easy and quick setup at the field.
The wing spar and leading edge are made of carbon tubes and rods, giving them the desired rigidity and strength. The trailing edge is cut from 0.8mm plywood. The Astrid’s fuselage is constructed with 2mm plywood for the inner skeleton stiffened with an 0.3mm wall carbon tube. Servo locations are ample, allowing for inexpensive servos of up to 9mm in size to be employed. The kit also comes with the require hardware including many custom, 3D-printed parts.
The fuselage canopy is conveniently retained with four magnets. There is an adjustable tow-hook for hi-start launch. The New RC Soaring Digest was told an electrified version is currently in development, as is a wing with ailerons which will considerably expand the Astrid’s flight envelope.
The Kohls RC Models’ kit comes with these gorgeous, easy-to-follow plans and an instruction manual with detailed descriptions of some of the more difficult steps. You can find additional videos about the Astrid in the Resources section below, and complete information is available directly from the Kohls’ website.
Boxer Aircraft Carrier
Tired of all those trips back and forth to the car?
The Boxer is a better carrier for your aircraft — fewer trips back and forth between the parking lot and the ridge. It also makes for a convenient place for keeping your gliders off the ground when you get them there. It’s sized to carry up to five mid-sized sailplanes — the primary focus being those sized 60" span and smaller.
Aloft Hobbies’ proprietor Wayne Flower told the New RC Soaring Digest that they actually designed them for their own use with the goal of a single handle for all the gliders for a day’s flying. However, when customers couldn’t find them in the shop to buy them, they “knew we were going in the right direction”.
In addition to its ample cargo carrying capabilities, the Boxer is designed to be anchored down to avoid mishaps like having it fall over and instantly converting all of your conventional gliders into flying wings.
When loaded the Boxer remains level when picked up. If you put a transmitter or other heavy items in the optional storage box at the top, the weight will increase the angle of the planes making them more secure in the Boxer’s slots. It’s ruggedly constructed of laser cut plywood, the handle is made from very strong PVC pipe and there are 3D-printed endcaps. A roll of closed cell foam tape is included and is used to line the five sets of slots to cushion their precious contents.
It’s available in two versions: the Standard version is the the basic carrier. The Deluxe version includes additional storage compartments. The kit comes flat-packed and ready to assemble, all you need to provide is the glue. A link to the manual can be found in Resources below, and complete information is available directly from the Aloft Hobbies website.
Stellar F5J
A perfect first plane for dabbling in the FAI’s electric-assist thermal duration class.
The Stellar F5J is a very easy to construct, all-wood, laser-cut motor-glider specifically designed for lowland thermal flying and for light lift days at your local slope. The elegant glider’s wing employs the AG35 airfoil designed by Dr. Mark Drela and spans 3.12m. It’s lightly loaded at 20.5g/dm² and the wing has both ailerons and flaps.
This configuration enable small thermals to be worked easily while the Drela airfoil provides a broad speed range which enables transitioning quickly between areas of lift. We particularly like the look of the geodetic construction for the unusual, shapely wingtips.
Built-up control services are a testament to the designer of the Stellar’s attention to detail when it comes to producing a light, stiff, high performance airframe.
An attractive decal package, as shown above, is also available as an option. You can find both the build manual and construction photos linked in Resources below.
Complete information is available directly from the Ecirtech website.
Cover Photo Mug
The perfect vessel for your morning pre-flight coffee or evening tea, or depending on how your day out went, maybe something stronger.
There’s a new product line in the New RCSD Shop that riffs on their Cover Photo T-Shirt series: introducing the Cover Photo Mug. The inaugural edition features the beautiful photography of Uroš Šoštarič, who captured this gorgeous 5m DG–1000 at Mangert in the Julian Alps of his native Slovenia. His photograph is custom formatted just for this particular use and wraps all around the hearty 444ml (15oz) mug.
Whether you’re drinking your morning pre-flight coffee, evening tea, or maybe something stronger — this mug’s for you! It’s sturdy and glossy with a vivid print that’ll withstand the microwave and dishwasher. Complete information available directly from the New RCSD Shop’s website.
Deviant DLG
Want a glider you can get in the air and start flying whenever the mood strikes?
In that case, as Thomas and Jason over at ArmSoar say, “you need a Deviant in your life.” Yikes.
The Deviant is proof that a large low aspect ratio wing helps boost both the performance and handling of a 1m glider. Even in more rigorous conditions which other 1m models and their pilots will find challenging, the Deviant will stay on step particularly when ballasted up.
Manufactured in HAAS machined aluminum moulds, the Deviant’s fit and finish are exceptional. Construction is by their crack team based in Ukraine, a hotbed of superior quality composite construction. Unlike other designs which employ XPS foam for the wing cores, the Deviant instead uses the superior Rohacell® material for better stiffness, ease of construction and repairs, and resistance to hanger rash.
In addition, the nosecone design makes it very easy to handle the model on the field. If it gets damaged — that will never happen, right?! — you can swap it out for a new nosecone helping keep the model looking fresh. We have linked the build videos for the Deviant in Resources, below. Complete information can be obtained directly from the ArmSoar website.
Resources
- Astrid F3L from Kohls RC Models. 🇵🇱 — Flying Astrid Glider in Calm Conditions (video), Flying Astrid Glider for the First Time (video)
- Boxer Aircraft Carrier from Aloft Hobbies. 🇺🇸 — Manual
- Stellar F5J from Ecirtech. 🇫🇷 — Manual, Construction Photos
- Deviant from ArmSoar. 🇨🇦 — Build Log Part 1 (video), Build Log Part 2 (video)
The Fine Print
All product descriptions in Cool New Stuff are prepared in collaboration with the product’s manufacturer and/or distributor which is/are entirely responsible for ensuring the accuracy of their product’s descriptive text and images contained herein. Note also the New in Cool New Stuff can sometimes mean ‘new to us’ — the French nouvelle as opposed to neuf.
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