This model is SUPER cheap (at the moment and has been a long while) at just $30 for the kit (yes you must build it yourself). I'll start off with it's almost identical in design to the Kinetic 800. However the components that hold it together and fittings are all different, the Kinetic has mostly plastic component pieces where as this model is all laser cut plywood.
IMPORTANT: The reason for writing this guide is this:
This model comes in a brown unmarked, unbranded box WITHOUT instructions, all the plywood pieces are in 1 bag together as is all the control lines, push rods and epoxy mix. So unless you own a Kinetic 800 or a clone like this one then you'll have no idea what goes where.
Product link:
www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__30019__Mini_Glider_EPO_800mm_Kit_NL_Warehouse_.html
Specs:
Wingspan: 800mm
Length: 600mm
Flying Weight: 400g~500g
Wing Area: 8.3dm2
Wing Loading: 48.2g~60.2g/dm2
EPO Construction
All Moving Tail
Includes All Hardware
Includes Ply Motor Mount and Ply Horizontal Stablizer Mount
Includes CF & GF Rods
Requires:
Your Own 4 Channel TX/RX
4 x 5g Servo
20A ESC w/BEC
24-40 Brushless Outrunner
2s 300mAh~500mAh 2s Lipoly
PRODUCT ID: 189000032
The control horns in the wing ailerons is pretty straight forward, have the flat side face the Leading Edge (LE/Front of the wing) so the control rod doesn't pass over the control horn.
This was the first puzzle figuring out how all the plywood pieces built up the swinging arm for the whole moving tail. You have 4 top rounded pieces, 2 of them have hollow centres. These hollow pieces go in the middle with the solid pieces on the outsides, push the white rod all the way through. (You can find which rod simply by mocking it up again the tail piece as only one clearly fits.)
There is a metal round piece that looks like a thick washer with a hole drilled in the side. This goes in the center as you can see in the photo. You have 1 longer bolt out of 2, this first has the control piece pushed down to the bottom (head side) then screwed into the metal washer to fix the rod to the bolt giving you the pivot motion required.
The belly hatch is a little more straight forward. You have 1 round plywood piece that perfectly fits in the belly hatch outside, CA this in place.
On the opposite which is fitted to the fuselage is the rectangle plywood piece with a single hole in the middle, push the nylon bolt nut in so the legs brake the wood surface. When in place CA around the outside of it to make sure it never pops out. This rectangle piece is easy to see where it's fitted on the fuselage, just have a look at the back end of the belly hatch bay area and you'll see a slot on each side.
You get 2 long glass rods, one is longer than the other so pay attention by testing which is which first. There are many slits in the fuselage for control lines but only 1 on each side runs the full length of the fuselage so you shouldn't get confused here.
Now the elevator rigging is UHU por in place and not CA so it's allowed to take a little vibration. The control line was a pain to get through the sleeve provided, it didn't quite fit and I had to hand screw it through the entire length of the sleeve... Not so good.
Once done it was a simple case of connecting the servo arm AFTER centring the servo (easy to forget so don't). Note the direction and placement of the servo as the arm is at the back side.
The aileron servos are fitted, the 2 provided control rods are obvious which to use. I have also CA glued the wing brace rod into 1 of the wings ready to go through.
Gluing the fuselage together your supposed to use the provided epoxy but instead I used UHU por again for it's better adhesion, vibration insulation and future pulling apart.
Because this model is for slope soaring I'm not fitting a motor, so you can see my big 1000mAh 2S lipo pack which lasts ages.
Instead I placed a spinner over the motor spot, which also holds 30 grams of lead to balance out the lack of motor and ESC. This balance is super perfect. I just used UHU por to glue it in place and then taped around for a bit of security should it ever pop off it'll stay close by.
From it's maiden flight slope soaring I discovered the wings are not so strong, some tape along the bottom of each wing helped. Otherwise it's maiden flight was excellent doing everything it's big brothers do:
Loops
Slope climbing to 150+ meters
Linked rolling
Tip and tail stalls
INVERTED soaring
and more...
