foam chuck glider, rc conversion

I would mount the rudder and elevator servos near the rear of the fuselage in recesses you carve out and servos stuck in with RTV silicone and short 4 to 8 inch control rods to the horns. Use two sided control horns to the rudder and elevator. You will have to cut the ruffer and elevator and hinge them. Use clear plastic 1.5 to 2" packing tape on one side of the rudder and bottom of the elevator as your hinge.

Find the thread here on CEF where some one made a engine pod for a free flight airplane and make one similar to go on top of your glider. You will have to experiment with slightly infront or behid the Center of Gravity for the best mounting location

Receiver and battery compartment gets carved out near CG with some exrta room so you can move the battery front or rear to help balance the CG

I have often thought of getting one of them to do a RC conversion as it is a tough plane for very few $$$

Good luck and post you questions and pictures as you proceed.... a very good project and you will learn a BUNCH doing it

If you can get a second glider for the experimenting so once you finish testing, your notes will suggest better or optimum locations for every thing. The second one will be the one you spend time covering and making pretty

I've thought about it many times over the years.

ive got it set up for the motor to be in the nose, thanks for the suggestions, ill put some patterns on the bottom of the wing for oriention

Making any RC plane black is not a good idea. You could wind up in a strong thremal and model could get away pretty fast.

dankar04 wrote:Making any RC plane black is not a good idea. You could wind up in a strong thremal and model could get away pretty fast.

is that because the color black has the tendency to attract more heat? i accidently destroyed the elevator on the model doing a test flight... Ill have to buy another one, i might not get another one so soon as a have my 1/4a littlest stick, and 2 no name planes to get flying. Ill post a couple topics on those planes later so other members can help me identify what airplanes they are

Mitch:

A thermal is an updraft of air current caused by temperature differnces in the atmospere. (Hot air rises and cold air sinks) A black plane could get caught in an updraft and you'd have a tough time keeping it in sight.

Yellow tends to show up well.

SuperDave wrote:Mitch:

A thermal is an updraft of air current caused by temperature differnces in the atmospere. (Hot air rises and cold air sinks) A black plane could get caught in an updraft and you'd have a tough time keeping it in sight.

Yellow tends to show up well.

yeah, ill keep that in mind if i get another chuck glider to convert, thanks for the info guys

SuperDave wrote:Mitch:

A thermal is an updraft of air current caused by temperature differnces in the atmospere. (Hot air rises and cold air sinks) A black plane could get caught in an updraft and you'd have a tough time keeping it in sight.

Yellow tends to show up well.

I have to agree and disagree here (just for fun )
Yellow is one of my favorite colors for planes, great contrast color. A wise choice for many airplanes.
However for gliders black is very visable at altitude

Gotta chip in boys.
The below is just IMHO.
Black (or any single solid colour) not good except against azure blue sky.
It's why artf's don't tend to be black.
Servos at the rear?
If it were me I'd set all the equipment out roughly where
Youwant it then tape it on and see where it balances.
Even with the (small ?) engine on the front with servos
At the back I'd put money on the fact you will have to add
MUCH more weight up front than just an Rx and flight battery.
Adding unnescesary weight to a plane should be a crime.
IMO

Just take a look at my various recent Old timer vids last weekend
Where one one engine cuts after launch and it just sinks back
To earth.
This week I added a tailwheel I almost cried adding 30grams
To the nose to compensate.
Good luck

Yup, lay everything out and balance it with your radio gear/battery/motor placement as much as possible. Try not to add static weight for the balance, especially with 1/2A power.

Power pod it like someone else mentioned.

Black and yellow keyboard is a great combo for under any wing. Good points from all on this. I could not find the link but many studies have been done on visability of colors.
Neon Green is the best for me but it is NOT a stable color and neon covering is heavy.
I have to say most of my planes are/have been yellow
Our club went through a combat phase and black streamers are still the best seen in all conditions.
Easy oriention from top to bottom is probably as important. IMHO

Back in the 80's, I finished an Allure sailplane in the worst and best colors for a high-flying sailplane....gray on top and black on the undersides !

I'd often get it right up to the limits of visibility, snuggling close to the bottom of a big cumulus (it's VERY hard to turn away from a great Boomer!). If I wanted to scare myself, I would loop it, and play the "Lost the Plane---See the Plane" game.

Inverted, below the gray bottom of the cloud, it simply disappeared...then it came back into sight when it's black belly flopped back around!