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The Dodger is a great looking Electric Powered glider that is cheap to build and just great to fly, with only 3 channels to worry about, this old school model is perfect for a relaxing days flying.
The balsa construction of the Dodger means flying weight is minimal, the superb covering has been expertly applied and the colour scheme is perfect for orientation. All hardware is supplied and there is no doubt that the Dodger is a pretty fast and simple build. The removable wing makes the Dodger easy to transport and the magnetic battery hatch makes lipoly changes a breeze. The Dodger is a great looking model at a great price, easy to fly & easy to build, what more could you ask for!
Features: Superb Balsa Construction Excellent Photo Manual All Hardware Supplied Attractive Scheme that is excellent for Orientation Easy to Build Perfect for a Relaxing Days Flying Cheap To Assemble Expertly Pre-Covered
a 28 mm brushless is what it recommends. But its always your choice how much power you want so that's why they don't recommend it. Or you could ask technical support.
It would be a great help, for the customer who is preparing an order , if HK could add just an advice giving one precise brushless engine ( name & Ref Nbr) with one precise prop (Name & Ref Nmbr ) , which should match this precise airplane-model .
Polycapman: It is a wing that can be seperated. It uses a dihedral joiner rod that most seem to think is carbon fibre it's not, it's a stiff black plastic. I've replaced mine with a carbon tube of the same diameter with a smaller one glued inside that for extra strength.
Gary: I think you better have another look at one of the kits. Of course you could glue it permanently but I don't think you'd gain much in strength. I biffed mine in and it broke the wing out past the joiner area so that's not a weak spot if not glued.
I have one and flew it four flights so far. I put the motor on the front of the motor mount and the wing comes apart for transport. I use a 2200 2-cell batt. and it performs ok but would climb like a striped ape with a 3-cell. I am getting 15 min of motor run time to half discharge the batt. This is the slowest glider I have, much slower than the gentle lady or the Aspire, and it really kicks then it hits a thermal.
This glider AUW should be ard 1000-1300g almost same weigh as Phoenix 2000, which most ppls upgraded to 2836(300w) motor. So I was wondering if the subjected motor(150-168w) have enough power? Btw if anyone can tell me the motor is suppose to mount behind or in front of the firewall? by looking * the picture the front cover have big gap in between the firewall...
It's balsa and ply which can be very light, I'm hoping the stated 900 grams flying weight IS about right, especialy since I've ordered the 2830 - 920kv motor to go with it. I'm hoping I can reduce that weight further by using a smaller and lighter battery than the suggested 2200mah 3S, there's no way in the world I need that much capacity if there's a few thermals about.
Hi Sawdust, Thks for your reply. $70 for 2m balsa glider it's too tempting that's why I've ordered 1 today but I chose 2830-1020kv. what worry me the most is a lot of nose weigh needed to get the right CoG that's why HK listed 2200mah, I'm going to try 1300-1600mah 3s.
I think you're right about the reason for the 2200mah battery recomendation, there's a lot of tail hanging back behind the cog. I can't tell from the pics where the servos are meant to be mounted but I'll probably mount them as close to the nose as possible and make up a pull pull system, basicly anything I can to shift any of the weight it HAS to carry forward and hopefully allow me to use a much lighter battery and keep the flying weight down. I'm only guessing but I think it may have originaly been designed for a heavy lump of a brushed motor, maybe. I may end up putting a bigger heavier motor in since that's further forward than the battery and gram for gram will influence the cog almost twice as much as battery weight keeping the overall weight down. It's going to be interesting to see when we get them, this will be my first model without aelerons, I'm realy looking forward to just watching it cruise around way up high in a thermal and not be straining my eyes trying to keep it the right way up :-)
1000kv means nothing as far as engine weight or power. It would have to be a big one though to ballance it without any extra weight. They were designed to take a huge heavy brushed motor, you can see it on one of the pages of the manual. It's a real pitty they didn't modify the design just a bit to better suit a lighter brushless. Extend the nose, shift the wing mounting back a bit, whatever. I used a fairly light motor and then had to put heaps of dead weight up front to get the cog right on mine. It would have been so much better as a glider if we could keep the weight down that bit more. They are beutifuly made, they just need to update the design that one tiny bit to make it perfect.
I don't need any more models, I don't need any more models, I don't need any more models, I don't need any more models, I don't need any more models, I don't need any more models, I don't need any more models, Doh!
I tried telling myself I don't need any more models either but then something took possesion of my hand and I couldn't stop it from pressing that buy now button. There's just something about the simplicity of this thing that grabs me. It looks like it should make for a very relaxing bit of thermaling on a nice summer day.
(Voice in the head)... "ya still have some some models waiting in their original boxes man" ... Press add ... Delete .... Press add again .... Delete .. So hard... So very hard ...
I fly a Goldberg Gently Lady too & I use a 2213n 800kv motor driving a 10x6 prop with a 1500mah 3s Lipo for Gliding and cut down to a 1300mah 3s for FPV, works like a charm, plenty of power. I'm nudging a kilo fully loaded. So weight is similar.
Yup. I like it. You don't get much more old school than that. Good pilots don't need ailerons on something like this and it keeps the weight down...so more flight time.
I have the goldberg gentle lady, just the same model, and flying with only rudder and elevator is just perfect, you have complete control of the airplane!
It's easier to fly a rudder/elevator glider while thermaling, because it's self-leveling. Especially when it's up high, where it's hard to make a coordinated turn with an aileron glider. You might want to install some spoilers, too, which HK sells, so you can bring it down if it's in a strong thermal.
DriesRC, I've flown plenty of rudder elevator gliders on the slope, in light to moderate wind. One guy I knew bought an $800 3.5 Meter glider just for the slope. It could turn on a wingtip in light lift!
I don't care what you guys say, no aileron is unacceptable for any winged model. Even if you think you don't need it, an option to use it when necessary should always be better than none. This is a pass for me.
Correct, all these models with no aileron are not worth learning on, either for beginners or veterans. You have wings, you must have ailerons. Else, you learn nothing.
When thermaling 1000' overhead, I would prefer polyhedral wings over ailerons every time. My Protech Focus 180 has polyhedral, no ailerons and a V-tail. It flies just fine. But you need plenty of room to land.... no brakes!
Coptor, I own far more aileron and aileron/flap equipped gliders than I do rudder/elevator ones, but planes are like tools. Each one has it's place. When my club goes on a soaring trip (400 mi. each way,) we bring a whole variety of gliders and electric planes for different wind and slope conditions, or when there isn't any wind. Everything from 1M to 3M, and sometimes 6M. one year I took a dozen gliders alone, and flew all! If RE gliders aren't for you, fine. But if you try a little of everything, you'll have the most fun.
Love the name, VictimOfGravity. I've been a victim of gravity too many times to admit to myself. And I agree that when you're thermaling high up, RE is easier. I shouldn't have sold a 3M RES with flaps that I bought used, it was too good to cost so little. HK sells spoilers. Give them a try.
All good pilots should be able to fly both types of airplane, and their both good. At the field almost all beginners fly a 3 channel airplane first, to get used to landing, height and discance calculation and their orientation. but if they have ailerons too, they'll have to concentrate on that too, which makes it very hard for beginners, and they would need way to much time on the simulator. So calling RE planes not acceptable is wrong!
Dries ... the comments regarding RE models is an opinion shared by coptor and I respect that. Not "wrong" but different. Same as saying sailplanes should never have motors or that electric powered models are superior to nitro/gas models - each have their own merits.
Aw come on ! I flew a single channel rudder only 6 foot wingspan Kenhi Buzzard on the slope with rubber powered esc that had only 400 turns left or right (or left and then right). With an Olsen and Rice .23 two stroke for power when I was 10 years old.
And I'll bet you learned more about slope soaring from that than someone with a full house glider with a computer transmitter.
The one time I learned the most about slope soaring was when I was flying a 1.5M foamie in a breath of wind. I learned to keep the speed up between turns, even though the glider dipped below the edge of the slope, so it wouldn't lose even more altitude in the turns.
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Every bit as good as the Great Planes Spectra motor glider! Well Built balsa and plywood construction. Covering very well done in a tasteful scheme. One or two tiny wrinkles that can be easily taken out with a heat gun or iron. Having flown a motorized Goldberg Gentle Lady and the Spectra I can say this is one of the nicest planes to fly for novice fliers. With a little simulator time first, I'm pretty sure a person could teach themselves to fly with one of these.
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Overall Rating
4stripes
106 likes
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One problem noted after flying today... The wing joining spar is too flexible. It is 5mm hollow carbon fiber tube. Will replace with 5mm or 5.5mm solid carbon fiber rod. If unable will use 5mm or 3/16" music wire. My previous versions of this model (Great Planes and Carl Goldberg) had a stronger wing center section. Due to this I recommend upgrading the spar material AND limit elevator throw to very little travel to help prevent over stressing the wing. The D2826-10 1400kv motor works great
with the 30A Red Brick ESC and Zippy 40C 2200mah 3S battery. The plane needs this large battery for nose weight and will give flight times up to 30minutes at reduced power. HXT900 servos work perfect too. I used all harware from kit but had to drill the control horns open to fit the clevis pin.
40mm alloy prop spinner w. 3.17mm shaft fit motor shaft tightly and I used blades from the plastic folding propeller set 8 x 4.5" OR025-02403A. The 40mm alloy prop blade holders drilled to 1/8" to fit the blades.
With a stronger spar, this would be perfect but it can be fixed buying your own spar material.
El modelo no lo he probado en vuelo aun, pero he volado otros similares y con este tipo de ala vuelan estupendamente como se ve en el video de otro usuario, sin embargo no me gusta el sistema de anclar las alas y la cola, para el pegado de los estabilizadores de cola recomiendo, como dice el manual, usar epoxy. Tampoco me gusta la bancada, si quieres que te quede bien el cono con helice plegable has de usar el prolongador del eje del motor que dice en el manual. No he usado el prolongador, he montado el motor Turnigy 2826-10 1400 Kv por delante de la bancada y sobresale un poco de la carena del motor, helice 8x4, pila 3s 40C 2200A y variador Turnigy 30A, a pesar de montarlo todo lo mas adelantado posible he tenido que lastrar el morro con 85-90 grms y aun asi en orden de vuelo me ha quedado un peso total de 945 gr., 45 mas que lo dice en el manual, lo que esta bastante bien, considerando que tambien he cambiado las bisagras, ya que las de galleta no me gustan, he montado las clasicas. El conjunto de motor tira bien, a tope de acelerador se escapa de las manos si no lo agarras bien. En definitiva un velero que esta muy bien de presencia y acabado, con una buena embergadura, lastima los detalles sobre todo del encastre de las alas, que si quieres que quede bien has de pegarlas con epoxy ya que de otra manera flexan y no cogeran el diedro de 3ยบ hasta que este en vuelo, por eso las tres estrellas.
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