Alpenbrise cleared customs!!!

[Konrad]

I see the latest order from Aeroic has finally cleared customs!

I see Super Sport means added carbon and accounts for the $300 price difference between the nice Red White & Blue and the Orange one.

Is this different from what we normally think of as a carbon verses glass lay up? I assume so, as $300 premium for a carbon lay up in a 4 meter doesn't sound like a fair mark up over a glass lay up ( it sound a bit under priced).

Alpenbrise - 4 Meter by Aeroic

This is the Alpenbrise (alpine breeze) a 4 meter glider designed by our friend James Hammond. The Alpinbrise is available in two layups, the standard and the Super Sport. The Super Sport, has additional carbon in the layup providing greater stiffness for high speed performance flying. The nose...

alofthobbies.com

 

[Wayne]

You can buy the same from Germany, they charge a lot more! They start at 2500 euro for the base model.

 

[Konrad]

At first read that Super Sport is looking lke an unbelievable value! Particularly if that is a classic carbon lay up.

 

[Wayne]

We do not call them carbon or double carbon per the manufacturers request. Basically you have the lighter layup for more thermal like work, and uses a fair amount of carbon in this form. The Super Sport is intended more for slope work and has additional strength and carbon added, but comes at a weight penalty.

Judging by the videos we are seeing, these planes are plenty strong!

 

[Konrad]

Marketing aside it would be nice to know what we are buying. A cross reference to establish norms would help sales, me thinks. The price point for a 4meter looks fantastic even if the base model was of the same lay up as the classic “glass”.

 

[Konrad]

Guys It looks like the whole Aeroic line is on sale (6% off ?, maybe $100) at Aloft. This should make all the modern sub 3 meter ships a fantastic deal!

With the sale price I’m thinking that at the sub $2K price point the the Alpenbrise might make a good gag* F3F ship. Reading the FAI F3F spec’s the span limit is 4 meter. So seeing that I spent $2.5k** on my last 3 meter F3F ship, the Alpenbrise is looking like a great deal!

As a wiseman once told me don’t be the first upon which the new is tried. So since the Alpenbrise is new I’d like to ask those that actually have one, what are your impressions of the model. I’m looking for details on Form, Fit & Function. And if you have flown one how is it when it comes to the roll rate and directional control.

When I first saw these I was less than ecstatic, as the nose did not meet the FAI required nose radius (this is a safety issue in my book, but easy to fix). Also I couldn’t reconcile the sales wing drawing with what I saw in the production wing. The drawing is showing what I see as a 3 surface TE. The actual wings I’ve seen were cut as 2 surface wings. But with the 3rd servo pocket cut into the bottom wing skin. This has me thinking that there might be a mis-match between engineering and manufacturing. With my history with this brand, this is a real concern. On a much less critical observation I saw that the masked paint lines were a bit sloppy, in that the paint was stringy when the mask was removed. You could see this in the paint lines. The sheen of the finish was as good as what we see in some of the European models.

Watching the attached sales video it looks like there is more effective vertical area than what we got with Aeroic’s last 3 meter ship. I can see this in the way the ship weather vanes into the wind on the ridge dash runs. What I can’t see is how much aileron differential the ship in the video is using. I’d like to ask those that actually have flown an Alpenbrise how much differential and/or CAR are you using? I’m hoping that there is more than adequate tail volume to allow for a strong roll rate. After all it will take a lot of power to roll these 4 meter wings up into an F3F trun.

*Nobody really thinks the Alpenbrise will make the ultimate F3F racer. But I’m thinking that, as my F3F site often ends up being a thermal lottery the big ships might actually be fun in the lighter lift races.

**This price was for a well used FreeStyler with the servos installed.

P.S.
Based on my light Freestyler and light glass Redshift I’m looking at the lighter lay up wings to help with the roll rate. Also this will lower the cost of this experiment.