RR> I'm flying a highly modified Riser (2 meter) that has all the center
 RR> diehedral  removed, tip diehedral cut in half, flaps on the inboard
 RR> wing sections,   modified fin & rudder and a Modified stab & elevator
 RR> with the noise also  modified. Very fast but still floats very nicely.
Sounds like a hot little plane. 
 RR> We use a 1000ft power winch for most of our launches or a 1000ft High 
 RR> Start but ussually the winch. 
I tried a winch launch once with my 2m but got a crick in my neck 
from looking up at it. My corndogger is too light for the winch 
but I've used high starts. 
KB> I also converted one of those $5 styrofoam toy gliders  
KB> to RC and it flies OK but needs reduced drag. Improvements are 
KB> underway. 
RR> Such AS? 
Primarily replacing the fat, high-drag styrofoam fuselage with a 
pod-rod scheme. I discovered the need for this when I flew the 
styrofoam wing on my Corndogger's pod-rod fuselage. It flew almost 
as good as the Corndogger's stock wing. I modified the wing by 
(1) feathering the wing's squared off trailing edges, (2) cutting 
the roots of the two wing halves to remove the sweep so it would 
be straight like most other glider wings, (3) glueing the wing 
halves together with an 8" dowel inside to preclude "flapping" and 
"pigeon wing" (45 degree dihedral) caused by the stock attachment 
method. I now attach the wing with rubber bands. 
The next improvements will be (1) sanding some undercamber into the 
bottom of the wing, (2) using 1/16" epoxy-fiberglass printed 
circuit board to build a super strong pod box and then covering 
it with a thin plastic streamlined cowling to reduce drag. I'll 
use a fiberglass or carbon fiber kite stick for the rod and a foam 
rubber shock absorber on the nose. I always use a rubber band 
mounted, break-away tail assembly. 
The idea behind the styrofoam glider was to minimize cost and 
building time so you wouldn't worry about crashes. It's 
surprisingly rugged too and damage can usually be repaired at the 
field with clear shipping tape. Those factors alone make it a 
pretty good trainer even though it doesn't fly as well as other 
gliders. I get a big kick out of letting kids and other novices 
fly it. (That 50' hill I fly at is on a school playground.)  My 
strategy now is to improve ruggedness and performance while 
minimizing cost, building time and repair time. 
--- Blue Wave/Max v2.12
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