Hawaiian Sail-Plaining!

A reader from Hawaii, Robert Swift, built the Plain Sailor model and sent me an email. Interestingly, he's developed it in a various ways. By way of reminder, this design was intended for a "glider from one sheet of balsa" competition, where the performance is tested not simply on duration, like conventional HLG, but also longest glide and perhaps spot landing.

Pictures speak a thousand words, so here goes. This is a photo of the model, showing his telescopic nose arrangement (allowing for balance point adjustment):

This is what he said about it:

"I just moved to Hawaii, and I made a "Plain Sailor" Chuck glider. I love it. It flew really well, even with the  strong Trade Winds here. It flew about between 100 feet to 150 feet on the average. I did modify the design. I added 1/16 x 1/16 strips of Bass wood to the leading edge of the wings and tail. I also integrated 2 tiny paper thin Birch plywood angled splints into each of the joints. I used 2 penny's as ballast in the nose. I made the nose telescopic and I put the wing on slide to adjust the Center of Balance. I'm thinking about adding adjustable flaps that can be pinned in placed with a control arm made with paper clips."

The model takes apart, and here you can see it dismantled, and the braces on the wings:

This is Robert's take on the SuperSweep 22 indoor design by Ron Wittman. He's moved the stab back and modified the nose design. I understand that this isn't a competition duration plane and it performs well:

Wonderful polyhedral here, and a T-tail:

Close up of the T tail. Interesting craft work here.

Pretty tiny. VERY CUTE, I'd say.

Fascinating work there by Robert, and I'd like to thank him for sharing his experiences and photos.