Scienceguyorg Ramblings: Whipit Good

Monday, May 11, 2015

Whipit Good - Micro RC DLG Review

As luck would have it I got a call from my favorite hobby shop Everything Hobby in Rochester MN last Friday that the UMX Whip It glider was in; actually I had forgotten I had put one on order. The real luck was the next day I flew in a discus launch contest and the weather was beautiful giving me a chance to fly the Whip It which is a micro discus launch glider after the contest. “Whip It” is a great name for this little glider which brings up memories of the 1980 rock song by that wacky group Devo.

Assembly is just screwing in four screws through the wing into the fuselage, I suggest using a good Phillip’s screwdriver as the screws go in rather hard to start with. Just one single cell lipo 150 mah battery like used in many other small aircraft is used to power the radio. The battery is covered up by a slip-on nosecone, make sure it is pressed on tight as it came off on launch for me once.

I know the big question is how well does it fly, I think it flies very well but it is what it is because of the physics. With a 24” wingspan and only 82 square inches of wing area it is not going to perform like a glider with over 300 square inches of area. With a weight of only 1.53 ounces the wing loading is low but the smaller wing is not as efficient as a larger one. It did launch fairly high for me and after maybe 20 throws I did launch into a thermal and began circling the Whip It skyward. The problem then is if there is any breeze it will be tough penetrating against it. To me the real beauty of this and the UMX Radian is that you can go to the local park and fly when the conditions are good instead of travelling to a larger field. For a glider that comes ready to fly at $70, I think it is a heck of a bargain.

The next day the wind was blowing really hard and I just happened to drive by a small slope that I had my eye on for a while. Not sure what the actual wind speed was but forecast was for gusts up to 25 mph, I think it might have been blowing around 15 mph. Really too much wind but I wanted to try slope flying my new toy. It did pretty good, one gust blew it into a tiny tree and the stabilizer broke loose, to me it looked like maybe not enough adhesive had been used at the factory.

Back in my workshop I glued it on with epoxy as sometimes foam-safe CA will attack some foams, at least it did on my Radian UMX. Later in the afternoon the wind appeared to be slowing down so I went to another really small slope. The wind was only coming straight in part of the time but when it did the Whip It flew great. There are some small trees at the base of this slope but this little glider will turn on a dime. Happy that I didn’t stick it in another small tree I called it enough.

The question probably remains if this is a good way to introduce someone to RC discus launch gliders. I think someone could learn the basics without much financial investment and no building time. Fly over tall grass and the glider would be pretty hard to break. Catching thermals and circling upwards could be pretty tough for a beginner. I am awaiting the opinions from other people.

New Pictures Added 5-18-2015