X610

ĘTomAtwood
here's nothing like fly-
ing a well-behaved,
thermal-grabbing
sailplane, especially one that
is large enough to linger in a
thermal with that stately
grandeur that only the larg-
er span ships seem
to
evince. Is it that their size
makes them less sensitive to
minor turbulence? Is it that
the sweep of their wings is
simply easier to see at altitude? Whatever that elusive
qualiĘ of greatness in soaring flight may be, the X610,
the sublect of this review,
captures it.
If you like
open-bay
sailplane designs that float
across the sky, as do I, imag-
ine the following. Marry
precision manufacturing to
an ARF desigrr and give it an
86-inch wingspan, just over
7 feet. Make the wing out of
high-quality balsa and PlY,
and cover it with transparent Ultracote Lite so that the
airplane is both pretty and
easy to repair should You
ever accidentally ding the
wing.
EI
,ATTEFIIES
To eliminate forever the
challenge of escaping from
a "boomer" thermal that
threatens to Pull Your soar-
ing machine beyond visual
range, equip the sailplane
with ailerons that can double as lift-killing spoilerons.
Give it a light fiberglass
fuselage and preassembled,
built-up tail feathers. Add
to this SR Batteries'* endless
quest to build customer
52 MODEL
AIBPLANE NEWS
Model: X610
Manufacturer: SR Batteries
Type: electric-powered thermal-soaring
sailplane
Wingspan:86 in.
Wing area: 610 sq.
in.
Weight (as tested): 51 oz.
Wing loading: 12 oz./sq.tt.
Motor req'd: tested With SR Spoń Power
System-Graupner- Speed 500 Race
motor; SR planetary 4.4:1 gearbox;
14x9.5 CAM" folding prop; Jeti- 350
ESC and 8-cell SR 1300 Max battery
(other power systems available)
Radio req'd: 4-channel (throttle, ailerons,
rudder and elevator), but programmable
radio with spoileron, differential and
aileron-rudder mixing preferred
(Aińronics RD6000 used)
List price: $329.95 for the X610 alone;
if
purchased with the Spoń Power System
($274.95), which includes a 7-cell pack,
the price of the kit is reduced by $30.
Features: Completely prebuilt and covered, open-bay,S-panel wing and prebuilt fin, rudder, horizontal stabilizer and
elevator; epoxy/fiberglass fuselage; com-
plete hardware package with horns for
both standard and programmable radios.
Comments: a slow-flying thermaling
floater that peńorms well. Spoileron func-
tionality offers glide-path control in pow-
eńul thermals and better spot-landing
loyalty and their obsessively meticulous
quality control. Finally, equip the plane
with an affordable, geared, sport power system that provides an aggressive climb-out
using a 14X9.5 CAM prop. Using 8, SR
1300 Max cells, the plane has a wing load-
ing of only 12 ounces per square foot and
easily climbs to thermal-catching heights
three times on a charge. Does this sound
like a winner?
It's really iust the proper
matching of design, materials
and power system-the
product of years of experience within the mod-
eling communitypaired with time-sav-
ing ARF construction in a package
that raises the bar.
I'm not saying this
plane is going to
compete with a competition sailplane, nor
control. Excellent manual. Allow yourself
a week of evenings to carefully assemble
this finely engineered airplane.
would you ever want
to dive and yank this
Hits
European F5b-style electric.
But when I compare its performance with the many open-bay electric gliders I have built and flown since the
mid-'80s, some under 2 meters in span and
some over, none have shown the perfor-
. Excellent workmanship.
o
Excellent flight peńormance.
. Good instructions.
Misses
. lnstructions for pulling aileron servolead extension wires into the servo
plane like you would
approach.
a
mance capabilities of this particular airplane.
bays were problematic to execute; see
this review for an alternative, easier
had not previously used. The SR instruction manual asks that you epoxy-seal the
balsa floor of the bay (of course) and that
you cover the area where the double-stick
tape will be applied with Scotch tape. You
are also advised to cover the side of the
aileron servo (I used Airtronics* 94501.
Microlite servos in coniunction with the
Airtronics RD6000 programmable radio
A$SEMBLY
Aileron servos are mounted in fairly shallow bays
(1h.
inch deep) using a technique I
reviewed
in our August'99 issue).
SR
owner Larryr Sribnick assured me the adhesive qualities of this combination would
work well in practice and minimize any
challenges should I swap out servos. He
was right. Clear plastic "windows" with
slots for the servo arm are then simply
taped down, and the servo arm and aileron
NOVEMBER 7999 53
M