Foamboard Discus Launched Glider

My first foray into DLGs, the scratchbuilt "Electron" is a 100g foamboard glider weighing 100g. The wing and tail surfaces are made of de-papered and taped ReadiBoard (aka Dollar Tree foamboard) affixed to a 6mm carbon fiber tube from Radical RC. The electronics are minimalist and not yet enclosed. The wing was provisionally mounted with 3M extreme mounting tape with the knowledge that I would crash, allowing the wing to pop off. I was aware that at some point it would detach upon launch, and it it did. After some strengthening it ought to be better able to withstand launching forces.

[@solosailorsv8065]

Only a true Glider can demonstrate that YES, the wing is creating LIFT ! Well DONE !!

[@sstalder5]

I made a variation of your design after watching your video. I ended up slotting out the underside of the main wing slightly narrower than the carbon tube, and pushing the tube into the slot added a few degrees of dihedral to the wing. This also gave it the extra strength to hold up to harder launches and made it a bit more streamlined. So far I'm getting about 30 seconds of flight time on flat ground

[@masbeetleboy]

Great build. I'm both surprised and impressed that this thing flew and held together reasonably well. I can't wait for an improved version of this.

[@AndrewNewton]

Wonderful minimal design. You know that would be an excellent light wind slope soarer.

[@Side85Winder]

+Andrew Newton quick u better get to the garage and make one. Imo just put a small motor on it and dont worry about the gliding skill part :) Considering how light it is the 8.5mm gear driven setup can generate ~54g thrust is that enough to keep it in the air? the setup would only add another 15g or so tops

[@loonypics6938]

+Side85Winder - H, i can you post links for such motors and the tiny ESC's needed, many thanks mate

[@THEfromkentucky]

+Andrew Newton Have you tried Hotwire cutting 9mm Depron, or any Depron? I'm wondering if it would be possible to cut a really thin airfoil that way.

[@AndrewNewton]

+fromkentucky No I haven't, but I will. Thanks for the clever suggestion.

[@Side85Winder]

Here is a performance link they are brushed 8.5mm motors you find on micro flyers and drones. www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2009496 most hobby sites sell brushed esc to drive these things so shouldnt be to much trouble to set it up.

[@1freedlander]

I'm about to begin a foam RC glider. Your video was helpful.

[@jscheiris]

Another great video Ed, I have been following your channel for years now and have learned so much from you . Thank you for sharing . Cheers

[@bwolfe2514]

Amazing first attempt at a DLG!!! Love the looks of it. Makes me want to give it a go.

[@electronicsafrica]

Thank you... your channel helped me build foaMWARI

[@61066clocks]

Looking Good Ed, keep it Up,the pull.pull system is a great idea

[@FourDollaRacing]

Nice build....happy flying!

[@biglon62]

Thanks for sharing! Love you new hobby room!

[@DSchlaef09]

Great build! Look forward to seeing more of your videos, especially FPV!

[@Vdubarub]

Such a cool guy! Thanks for sharing your gift for teaching and insight👍.

[@mountaindewdude76]

That's great! I am pretty impressed, as usual! It looks like a very simple build and it definitely did fly....until that massive "Hercules" launch, ha ha ha. Well done, Ed!

[@mackgoodman]

Love the serious dlg swing! Great video

[@AaronBlake]

Great Job! Love seeing the trial and error.

[@MoiraOBrien]

It sure looks good. In the good old days (30 years ago), when we called them "Chuck gliders", my lightweight 1-metre span balsa, doped tissue and carbon rod creation weighed in at 350gm! It still managed 20-second flights with no thermal lift. Bungee launched it was savage - I once nearly lost it in a thunder cloud. I am definitely going to build something like this soon

[@IFlyMillennium]

Very inspiring work!! Looking forward to more updates.

[@YearsOfLeadPoisoning]

Awesome build. I flew a foam DLG that I designed a few years ago and it was tons of fun optimizing it to the point where I was getting close to 45 second flight times in good conditions. I was using a wooden dowel boom which was the weakest point and would flex a bit, but only failed a couple of times.

[@badmofo350]

nice build Ed! I've always wanted to try scratch building a DLG although I think i might just order a Libelle or one of the HK DLGs. This video made me want to go fly today which i might do since the weather is beautiful today. I think I'll take my APD and my Kunai. Thanks as always for the inspiration. I've built several FB planes using some of your methods and have been happy with every one.

Gostei muito desse planador, parabéns pela construção - Marcio from Brazil!

[@mikbacitube]

Great design . I like it it is simple. Maybe it will fly more with larger wing span. Love the fishing line idea

[@mschaffer2826]

Good to see you flying on the East side of the Mississippi. Hope you don't miss the sand and scrub brush too much.

[@justaguitardude]

looks like fun to fly. i have a bad leg so i can not do the spinning launch.. but sure looks fun. sloap flying would be fun.. but here in the phoenix valley, im out in AJ... not a option where i am. but i sure love looking up at the birds of pray catching thermals all day.. the desert sure has great thermals.. rock on.

[@RoboTekno]

Add a V-tail and it would be a pretty cool sloper. Also once you toughen up your DLG, remember to do a fancy spin and flick launch for us :-P

[@Jack2Japan]

Looked like fun!

[@Critt3er]

A good example of the KISS method!1 Great job!!

[@RubenRD97]

Very nice build!

[@iamthetinkerman]

Great plane, Awesome music taste, love progressive trance!

[@DickGibson]

Great job man Keep after it cause I want to make one. YEA

[@stickmixfpv188]

😍 I love it! Need to build one! Now!

[@grahambate3384]

thx mate, another gr8 video, keep them up, cheers Graham.

[@zekearchuleta6061]

Great job ED, Bet if you pull her up high and let it glide from high, It'll be awesome ! Thanks for the continued education.

[@kennyFF033]

I like the design, nice! I agree with the other guys... slope! and a bit more wing area maybe? Single plate kfm-2, massive bevel and tape hinge the leading edge of top and bottom plate; top plate is 40% to 60% of wing cord (bottom plate) Easy build, really strong, and the step on top makes great lift for a glider. Blue skies, Brother

[@T-omi]

I would really like to see F3K type foamboard DLG from your production. Keep good work.

[@THEfromkentucky]

+T-23lol I second that.

[@thejoshmoss]

Nice build, I think a little bigger with the same electronics and you'll get much better flight times.

[@theElderberryFarmer]

Very nicely done, Ed! I look forward to seeing the inevitable refinements that you'll apply to the design. As an added bonus - at only 100 grams, it can be flown without FAA registration.

[@ExperimentalAirlines]

+Dwight Rahl Oh yeah, I didn't even think of that!

[@MerrixsOutdoors]

I love that you are taking on this challenge! I am by no means an expert myself, but I would like to offer some things to consider at least. First, I think your form during the last launch contributed to the disintegration. It looks like you flipped it with your wrist. Try to keep your arm strait and rotate your body. Second, consider adding more fishing line as reinforcement. Rout this added line from the front of the nose out to the tip of the wing, and then back to the rear of the fuselage. I would suggest at least doing this to the side you are launching from if not both sides. Keep up the great experimenting!

[@loonypics6938]

I agree with Andrews comment please do try it at slope soaring, thanks for the vid' Ed'.

[@SomeGuyInSandy]

Well done!

[@Maxisokol]

Do slope soaring! Slope soaring!!! :D

[@ExperimentalAirlines]

+Maxisokol S Dude, it's true! There's hardly any places around VA that have the right landforms clear of trees.

[@elliothuh669]

Build light enough and that hill would work if the wind is blowing in the right direction.

[@my_dear_friend_]

@@elliothuh669 - It's the trees that are the problem. Lots of great hills and wind here but no place to stand, see, launch, or land due to the trees.

[@marto2200]

thanks for the great ideas. I've got to build one of those. 😆

[@scottfrank8805]

Salute! I really enjoy your creations and this is sleek, inventive, creative and...And easy on the eye! BTW, you perhaps may have expected the dismantling when you increased the power of the toss, but it truly caught me by surprise! My wife wanted to know what the heck I was "gasping" at on a video... roflmao. Salute, and thanks. my wings are looking so much better from Your advise. Appreciate ya! scott

[@laurentpastorelli1354]

Super nice. with a V-tail it will be a super slope soarer.

[@Glamplitude]

Nice work! You could get the wing to remain attached if you run some strong, light line from the front and back of the wing joint to the tip (like a very acute triangle). I sometimes put carbon/kevlar tows into composite wings for exactly this reason. The incredible side force on the wing only exists while you're holding it during the launch (once you let go, forces quickly return to normal), so if you can rather "hold" the fuse than the wing, you should get much more power in the throw. This design has a lot going for it if you just remove the disintegration feature. Is that a gravestone at 4:51 ?

[@chriscross5581]

A simple and fast way to lock the dihedral in ought to be to prop the wing up with the wanted dihedral, and then hit the top tape lightly with a not too hot covering iron....or a clothes iron on very low setting (experiment on some scrap to find the right heat)....to just remove the wrinkles seen in your clip on top of the wing when you push the tips up. The thin shiny Packing tape we use is most often made from polyesther, same as most heat shrink covering films , and will shrink in the exact same way when heated. I often use this method to "neat up" my older tape covered planes when the tape loosens a bit or wrinkles in the sun; its also good for improving the adheasion of the tape a bit. The reason for the low iron setting is partly that it's only the adhesive that is keeping the different stripes of tape together , and it lets go at a lower temperature than what the polyesther foil can withstand, allowing the tape pieces to shrink away from each other - and partly not to melt the foam. Just a question of finding the right temperature.

[@chriscross5581]

On the airframe itself: I have some DLG experience, and to me it seems you have the basics down nicely; it's quite light, and yet the wing still penetrates quite well. A bit of playing around with the CG might make it easier to keep level; the fact that it goes straight on a throw tends to suggest its balanced fairly close to the neutral point. Just slightly further forward will make you trim the elevator slightly more up, causing the plane to pitch up by itself on a throw, which is how I trim my planes. This is very much a "preferrence" type of thing though. Since it's RE only, a bit little more dihedral might also be a good thing to make it easier to control. I also have a feeling most of the reason for your last throw to cause the wing to let go lies in the throwing technique, or rather lack of same. Your throw was more of a sharp flick than a large circle discus throw. The flick induces a lot of rotation, which would be great for a boomerang or frisbee, but puts very high mechanical force on the joints of a plane. Hence Great idea with the tape; built in chosen weak spot - you pick where it will break. Try straightening your arm out completely, and apart from whats needed to keep the arm straight, try to avoid using your arm or shoulder muscle to perform the throw. The movement should come from rotating your torso around its vertical center axis. This will in experience give you the highest speed along the intended flight path at release and the least amount of "flick". Hope this makes sense.

[@whidzee]

I build a foamboard dlg, I added a strip of pallet strapping as a wing spar. This allowed me to mountain throwing peg in one wingtip and know I wasn't going to rip it out. Also strengthened the wing so less chance of ripping it in half during launch.

[@konrad759]

Have you thought about aerotowing? Or a small, homemade brushless sailwinch? This design seems to be quite efficient, but a little too unefficient as a DLG. I towed a small rc depron glider (about 1 meter) some time ago all by myself, meaning that i flew the towplane and the glider, with two remotes of course. The dihedral kept the glider stable and gave me time to land the tow plane. And even though the glider was quite heavy (about 90g), i got some great thermals with it (at over 100m its usually better than on the ground). Would be cool if you did something like this with your building techniques, maybe a noob tube towing your DLG? ;)

[@ExperimentalAirlines]

+Rcmodellbau_DE That is probably a great idea. I need to dedicate myself more fully to sailplanes and I think a winch would be a great gear addition.

[@66tbird1]

more span and you'll be there

[@peterhensley7582]

Great design! Perhaps if you make the wing bolt on and put a throwing peg in it you will be able to achieve 50 ft launches! Maybe a small carbon wing spar will help too. If you cut some material off of the tail surfaces it might help with the aerodynamics a little and it will decrease the tail weight allowing you to lengthen the boom, which will substantially improve flight characteristics.

[@THEfromkentucky]

Do you have to use the Elevator to keep the nose up? If so, it may be a bit too nose-heavy. It should fly mostly level on its own, but if it's nose heavy you'll have to continually use Up Elevator to maintain pitch, creating drag and causing it to stall out. Try adjusting the CG about 1/8" at a time and see if it helps.

[@robertvanhousen1015]

Nice. My biggest irritation with foam velcro tape, is that the adhesive always pulls loose before the velcro does.

[@1NRG24Seven]

I remember making kites as a child and remember bending a bow into the short cross piece and we tied a string on it to keep that bow shape in it...wonder why one could not do same with you wing there and maybe use a couple small fish hook on some of that 8 pound test lead and stretch it end to end on the wing when bent to your desired shape, just leave it on, fly it with it on.

[@cassiolombardi8276]

I realy liked this glider, I made one using balsa to replace the carbon fiber tube, AUW 135g, how maby grams your DLG ready to fly? thanks a lot

[@terminatord4]

Well that's fantastic! Perhaps a bigger cord?

[@javirui0]

Very inspiring.

[@oooGreeooo]

Looks great. The wingspan seems too small though for ultimate lift?

[@colinhallahan13]

Hello sir, great video. I would just like to comment that planes with curved surfaces are much more efficient. For the wing it would be difficult, but you could easily cut the H.S. and V.S. a little bit to make it curved. Also, you would see a huge difference in performance with more dihedral. Colin

[@thomaseggenberger4365]

awesome plane Ed! I think an electric winch might be a good idea.

Wonderful.

[@SnapPunchRobert]

Beautiful plane Ed. Like the name too. How did you keep the wing on after it came off. I mean before the last throw. Why use the fishing line style control linkage, I mean it looks awesome but is there something necessary with this style of plane or is it just for weight. I'd be interested to see a video like you have done in the past of you building one of these (motor / prop style also).

[@yellowbusguy]

+SnapPunch Robert Pull pull is very light and gives nice slop free control.

[@kensmith280]

Love the design, I use Reflex flight simulator because the aircraft are a free download, real flight you pay for the upgrades which is fine because Real Flight simulator is nicer eye candy. Thanks

[@danogle9927]

As usual an excellent video,what more can I say,wonder if a KF3 wing would make any difference.Was there any wind at all. ??

[@ExperimentalAirlines]

+Dan Ogle There was a bit of wind, 5-10mph, which wasn't ideal.

[@CuervoRC]

Nice DLG ;)

[@parajared]

nice work. Are you going to scale it up to a proper 1.5 meter DLG?

[@PakiNewsNetwork]

Whats the name of wireless transmitter/receiver you are using? and do we fly gliders against the wind or in winds direction?

[@stewjw]

Nice, its also why DLGs tend to be expensive.

[@RCmaInIack]

What type of tape does he use on the control surfaces? Is it just packing tape or a special type of covering like Monocoat?

[@TheJohanJonker]

brilliant

[@MatthewHeiskell]

Very clean design. You need to get a 3D printer! It makes it easy to mount flat things onto round things.

[@gygaxthegoat2491]

wow.. thats definitely not Arizona behind you. Im trying this too Ed. Mines much stronger.. and MUCH heavier than yours. still waiting on voltage booster in the mail. I dont have a lot of faith in its gliding ability based on AUW so far though.

[@dronesbaires5241]

It can be very good for flight on a mountain slope.

[@RedstonePyroMan]

Needs more horizontal stab area. A higher aspect ratio tail with less articulating area will deliver a better experience

[@gaspointknives]

Watching it skid on launches I would say you need more surface area on vertical stab.

[@pirateman1966]

I think for the effort, a boomerang is more fun and I don't have to keep retrieving the thing like a dog in a park.

[@MarinusMakesStuff]

Just one question, why didn't you do the spinning throw instead of trying to throw it with one movement of the arm? The way you throw it exerts much more energy onto the planes structure than is needed. Oh, and I'm sorry you can't reply to my comment probably because my account is bugged. KZbin engineers are actually looking into the matter as we speak.

[@firebird8600]

That's neat. you could maybe tow it up with another plane to get longer flights?

[@henryforster8101]

Hi-start might work as well

[@jyotighelani8412]

Can I use 5v, 1.5Amps booster????

[@benjamincrane278]

what transmitter are you using

[@LemberTheMember]

I think DLG flying is hard to do with no slope because you didn't get enough Wind to hold the Wing up in the air i use a Alula and doesn't like to Fly the wing on flat grounds

[@sanderostvold]

The way you throw the plane is... well, bad. First of all, you got to extend you arm more in the beginning of the launch. When your arm is close to your body all the time the plane don't got time to accelerate in a orderly fashion. If you start with it extended, rotate you torso, and bend the arm closer to your body right before you drop it. As long the pitch is right, and you don't drop it to late you will see it penetrate the skies. Secondly, consider making a new, thinner wing with a carbon tube as a replacement for the foam spar. Nice plane though!

[@jackjuhasz533]

You are amazing, keep it up ! SOS 1499

[@FeWolf]

you use run fishing line from end of the wing to other to maintain wing shape.

[@ExperimentalAirlines]

+Fe Wolf I thought about that but it's draggy, if even a just a little. I think I can get the dihedral to last for a day's worth of flying. I'd like to try a proper spar with real dihedral built in, but also more weight.

[@FeWolf]

One thing I have used is a little steam forming, running a iron over the wing on a pre shaped design, I used the ANX float jet wing design small curve and roll up on the tip. www.hobbyking.com/mobile/viewproduct.asp?idproduct=8359

perfect simplicity of execution

[@normanmadden]

Nice way to make it modular; have you considered making an all moving tail plane type tail? A pivot and a control slot in the resulting stiff tail seems easier than the current. Please do not take this as a dis on the excellent plane, this is a suggestion for further models.

[@gasperbucinel]

Wing span?

[@emrahinan1]

:)) Good day.

[@sergeys8860]

SUPER!!! А чертеж -PLANS можете выслать ,я хочу собрать по вашим чертежам.

[@handleymachine4421]

I'm no pro, but if you were to refine your launch technique. By spinning around like a true discus throw. You would have a much less violent launch. And the DLG may hold together.

[@JCSk8videos]

hey, pretty cool plane but you could reach way higher hights, if you will train the real SAL-throwing-technic. The best performed throws you probably will find in videos of the world championships...

[@tlee9484]

👍

[@1955chriss]

gday good 1

[@PakiNewsNetwork]

Can't believe you did not answer my single question regarding plane building :(

[@wildside4822]

I cant believe you didn't watch the video where every one of your questions were answered

[@PakiNewsNetwork]

@@wildside4822 ur a bad guy!

[@canhhoang5803]

This category only fly when the wind should not you?

[@FourDollaRacing]

Wind = Lift !

[@QDStrength]

make the build video please

[@220volt-u7]

:D

[@thatrcdude]

Make a cable detach system and tow that thing up

[@Rantanplan-0815]

I think it has to much weight and the airfoil have not enough lift😅

[@JoseA-Divergent]

Original model! Your gravity center is no correct. Delay the wing 1 cm and is perfect.

[@davidclark2733]

As usual, another creative original, Ed. For the launch tech watch kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHjZnZ-ubZitd9k from flitetest ... lots of tips from David Windestahl I imagine the discus spin builds the stress on the frame gradually.