Mini Wanderer

[Hank GB Z]

I finished my Mini Wanderer and test flew her today. I did several changes to my model. Big ones were to go with bolt on wing instead of rubber bands and I added ply braces to the outer joints. I did this by cutting the ribs that are joined together aft of the spar and then making a brace and gluing it in. I'm attaching a pic for clarity. I also added lots of gussets to the wing on all the corners. I added the triangle stock to the fuse and rounded it over as much as i could, I started do that work with a spoke shave cut down on the saw dust. My AUW is around 185 grams and that includes adding 14 grams to the nose to get the CG to the aft limit shown on the plans. I have the emax HV servos (i forget the model) that fit the servo tray and i'm running the 450 mah 2 cell battery for a Rx batt. Covering is Ultra Coat Parklite and the graphics i cut out on my wifes Cricut. I think i will cut out more stars and add them free hand.

Today i test flew her out at Kite Hill. I started with a gentle toss to check the cg but she went out into the lift and was flying. Flew for 5 min landed and checked everything and went back out. Next flight was for over 30 min. It did help that today was just about perfect weather for this model. nice constant breeze with regular thermals but the model does penetrate up wind, I only needed to add down elevator if i wanted to gain speed. I will add a hook to the bottom for hi starts next. I'm really happy.

Good work Aloft and Red.

Hank

 

[Wayne]

Nice! We have not tested her with hi starts, so please proceed carefully. That balsa spar will not take much more than normal flight modes. Did you add the cabon to the bottom of the spar? (Not sure how old your kit is, early kits did not include the carbon.)

Looks great and looks to be flying very well for you.

we have seen a number of customer builds of these and a few have been interesting as they came out about twice the stock weight as the builds went a little off track with additions to the builds, but even the super heavy versions are reported to fly really well. As long as our customers are happy, go for it! (If you are going to make a heavy one, better beef up that spar. Spruce replacement would be a good idea.)

 

[Hank GB Z]

Hey Wayne,


I have a kit that came with the carbon but i didn't add it. I felt that it would not add much strenght for the amount of work involved. If this is a concern i would think changing the design to have spruce or bass wood spars wouldn't be a bad idea. You can keep the out panels to have balsa. My Pilot models Lavender is like this and it makes a very strong wing.

I plan to make my own upstart with some surgical tubing i bought from McMaster. If the wing folds up i'll reach out for a set of ribs to build a new one.

regards,

Hank

 

[Wayne]

Yeah, I have been debating doing just that for a while now. Now that we have a better source for Spruce that is a little more consistent in their tolerances, I'm much more open to do this.

 

[Red]

Yeah this one was never designed to see a bungee launch, so please be careful. I would highly recommend some reinforcement at minimum, spar replacement with spruce sounds like a great idea lol.

 

[G-man]

Got to fly a MINI WANDERER today, but it was a long and winding road to get here.

1. Ordered the kit and began the build.
2. After breaking parts 15 or more times, decided this small plane was too delicate for me to build.
3. Gave the partially completed plane to Flying Buddy.
4. Flying Buddy finished the build, but dorked the plane on his first launch.
5. I repaired the damage for Flying Buddy and successfully test flew the plane in calm air.
6. Other Flying Buddy and I flew the plane in 8-10 mph wind before returning it to owner,
and having only two launches each, DECIDED THE PLANE FLEW SO WELL THAT WE ORDERED TWO MORE KITS.
7. Made a personal resolution to be much more careful in building my kit the second time.
8. Got to fly for the camera today.

THANK YOU Red and Aloft crew or bring this design to market in an impeccable quality kit.

 

[Wayne]

We will be switching the main spar over to basswood very soon. A slightly higher AUW, but no more broken spars!

 

[RafaelAvila]

Got to fly a MINI WANDERER today, but it was a long and winding road to get here.

1. Ordered the kit and began the build.
2. After breaking parts 15 or more times, decided this small plane was too delicate for me to build.
3. Gave the partially completed plane to Flying Buddy.
4. Flying Buddy finished the build, but dorked the plane on his first launch.
5. I repaired the damage for Flying Buddy and successfully test flew the plane in calm air.
6. Other Flying Buddy and I flew the plane in 8-10 mph wind before returning it to owner,
and having only two launches each, DECIDED THE PLANE FLEW SO WELL THAT WE ORDERED TWO MORE KITS.
7. Made a personal resolution to be much more careful in building my kit the second time.
8. Got to fly for the camera today.

THANK YOU Red and Aloft crew or bring this design to market in an impeccable quality kit.

This is truly great feedback, and I'm happy to know that more people enjoy this model as much as I do. It's very rewarding to see that all the work and attention we put into these models really make people happy. thank you so much!!!

 

[G-man]

Some socked in weather in the Northeast this week, but OFB Dean found a dry period between scattered showers
so we got together for acceptance flight testing of Dean's repaired MINI WANDERER.

- Last time Jeremiah and I flew Dean's MW in 8-10 mph G 15 winds we were astonished at how well it handled the wind,
and we ordered two more MW kits before our heads hit the pillow that evening.

- Today we started with some gentle trim flights, but on one mighty heave WE GOT TWO FULL SLOW THERMAL TURNS
and the plane gained a couple feet of altitude directly over that baseball backstop behind Dean in the grip and grin shot.
This in calm wind under and complete overcast. VERY IMPRESSIVE.

What a great HLG design from Red and a primo kit from Aloftt. And it sure looks the part, as well.

Our kits are here. I think it's time for Jeremiah and myself to get busy on MINI WANDERER construction.

// Dave

 

[RafaelAvila]

Some socked in weather in the Northeast this week, but OFB Dean found a dry period between scattered showers
so we got together for acceptance flight testing of Dean's repaired MINI WANDERER.

- Last time Jeremiah and I flew Dean's MW in 8-10 mph G 15 winds we were astonished at how well it handled the wind,
and we ordered two more MW kits before our heads hit the pillow that evening.

- Today we started with some gentle trim flights, but on one mighty heave WE GOT TWO FULL SLOW THERMAL TURNS
and the plane gained a couple feet of altitude directly over that baseball backstop behind Dean in the grip and grin shot.
This in calm wind under and complete overcast. VERY IMPRESSIVE.

What a great HLG design from Red and a primo kit from Aloftt. And it sure looks the part, as well.

Our kits are here. I think it's time for Jeremiah and myself to get busy on MINI WANDERER construction.

// Dave

That's amazing I love the old style covering. If you like i can provide some vinyl cut for the wanderer like I have on mine

 

[G-man]

That's amazing I love the old style covering. If you like i can provide some vinyl cut for the wanderer like I have on mine

Rafael,
Sure, thank you for the offer.
How about black or dark blue lettering, for that old style covering.
I like your transparent blue, too. Looks real sharp.
Thank you.
// Dave

 

[Wayne]

Flew mine at the Sunset Event. For a while the lift had dropped out and the only 2 planes able to fly were Mini Wanderers. When those could no longer fly a Micro Gentle Lady could sort of maintain flight. Even the DLGs could not stay up when the Mini Wanderers were flying.

When the lift was better we had a good time looping and playing around. Lots of fun and they look great!

 

[u2builder]

Over the last few years I have built and flown many mini/micro gliders including the Willy Nillies Gentle Lady, Skybench Oly2, the JH Aero mini Drifter and BOT, the scratch built Mimi and the Wanderer. I fly them in my small field at home, and I can say that the Wanderer is the most comfortable to fly in my small space, and while there isn't much or any thermal activity, I can fly much longer (more climbs to 100' and glides) on a 300 mah 2S battery.

I have two wings, one the standard kit design with CF tow on the spars and the other an experiment modded wing where I planed down the balsa spars in the kit to turn them into a shear webs, and then added 1/16" thick spruce cap strip the same width as the shear webs.. The center sheeting butts to the cap strip instead of going over it for a full thickness spar, and the waves in the top spars of course are eliminated. It is very strong and stiff but weighs 40 g compared to 25 for the original. I can't really tell the difference in flight except the new wing is not as flexible. The spar is basically the same as on many 2m and larger woody gliders. The Skybench Mini Oly uses this type of spar. It is really a faithful replica of the famous Olympic II at half scale, and very solid but light, but the Wanderer I think is lighter, turns better and maybe glides better, at least for me. It is really a great little glider and I like the look of it in the air. Very fun and easy to build.

 

[Wayne]

We are just waiting for some new basswood to arrive and we will be adding a new spar for the center panels. It will add a few grams, but will be much stronger and actually easier to build than the current balsa and carbon combo. The plane does carry weight pretty well. We have seen some modified versions that are VERY VERY heavy and still are reported to fly very well.

They sure look good in the air.

 

[RafaelAvila]

We’re here working on the Mini Wanderer Rev. 1.0 production, where we’ve upgraded the main spar from balsa to basswood. The new spar adds significant stiffness to the airframe. It’s slightly heavier, but the trade-off looks worthwhile.

 

[Wayne]

Now in Basswood. The holes save 2 entire grams. LOL About 88.67% stronger.

 

[G-man]

I'm building my second Mini Wanderer, but with old instructions from the first kit.
Please advise me of the purpose and placement of the CF strip, 3mm x 0.5 mm x 50 cm.

 

[Wayne]

That is now an older kit. We have new spars made from Basswood we can send you.

Here is the story - The balsa spar can be on the weak side depending on how light the wood it is made from. Part of this is the nature of balsa, but also the notching in the balsa means we do not have much grain left going full span. The weak spot is right at the end of the sheeted center section. With the new basswood spar we removed the extra notching, so the sheeting will be cut to fit up against the bottom of the spar. The new material and the removal of the extra notch makes the new spar MUCH stronger.

Your kit with the carbon fiber is a bandaid to cure the breaking spar. After the wing is built, you add the carbon strip to the bottom of the balsa spar with some thin CA. Do this just before covering.

If you like, we can send you a set of the new basswood spars.

 

[G-man]

OK. All cool. I understand now. Thank you for continuing to improve the kits.
Yes, please send (two) sets of the new basswood spars.
You have two builders excited about the performance of that hand-launcher, after trying it just briefly (two launches each).

 

[RafaelAvila]

One of the questions we get asked the most is: "What do you guys use to sand your planes and get that smooth finish?"
And another one that pops up from time to time: "What's that thing on top of the table? "

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Wood Editor Sanding Block Set

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