Back to the 70's classic sailplane " The Bird of Time "

After broswing the hobby shop lately I came across a very retro looking sailplane which caught my eyes. It has a beautiful 3 meter design wings and it also has this very classic look. It's called " The Bird of Time" which was designed by Dave Thornburg in the late 70's for competiton purpose during that time. Currently it's been manufactured by Dynaflite USA and it is sold here by NTC hobby Singapore.

After some browsing thru the internet and have read some articles about " The Bird of Time " I have decided to go for it. There were very good review about it and many were amazed with the performance of this sailplane. Some even had it for 10 years or so. The only differences it that currently there are ARF ( almost ready to fly ) kits. There is still the full balsa kits and it needed lots of patience and time to build it.

The build process is very straight forward and it took me three days to complete the bird although it says on the manual that it takes only a couple of hours to complete but I have decided to take my time with it. Did some modification on it as it was a pure sailplane for high start. I had to cut out the nose cone in order to convert it to electric power. The sailplane does not have any ailerons on and it only need 3 channel to operate which is throttle, rudder and elevator. The livery is a beauty to look at. Did add on a pair of spoilers too.

Finally the time have come for me to take the first flight. One fine afternoon at Old Holland Road, I took it to the sky. It went up gracefully with power setting which I have choosen. I'm currently using a MVVS 960Kv motor with a Castle 50 ICE esc. After reaching the desired altitude, I shut down the motor and the real thing begins...thermal hunting! It thermal very well as it has a very low wing loading. It was a beauty to see it soaring in the open sky.