This is Mike Smock. I run Aerosente. I offer a full line of wood gliders and sailplanes starting with simple hand toss gliders and culminating with vintage and classic large scale sailplanes. My kits are designed and or adapted by folks like Tom Martin, Tom Bode and Tony Elliott. I also offer a nice selection of Frank Zaic, JASCO/JETCO kits from the golden age of soaring.
As the proprietor of Aerosente this web site serves virtually as my workshop and retail store. Which means things can get get kinda of messy and disorganized at times. I enjoy building which is why Aerosente exists. You won't find finished, or ARF's (almost ready to fly) models here - not that theres anything wrong with them - its just that I prefer the building and flying process. Also, almost everything here is built from balsa and various grades of plywood. I don't offer composite or molded model aircraft.
Building and flying balsa wood gliders is a great father/son activity. With Facebook, Youtube, MTV, Madden 2008 and iPhones monopolizing the time and imagination of our young boys - it's really quite refreshing to consider a hobby that teaches boys how to build something with their own hands. A hobby that allows them to work with hand tools, even sharp tools, adhesives and abrasives. A hobby that allows a father to begin teaching his small son about the important things in life. There is enough here to keep dads and sons occupied for many years to come. We even offer a 108" scale Pawnee gas powered tow plane to to tow your glider! Talk about the ultimate father son project - your boy flying the tow plane while you pilot the classic gull wing sailplane. Dads... it doesn’t get any better than that.
I say this because I have fond memories teaching my son how to build and fly gliders. From dime store "chuck gliders" to exotic carbon/kevlar discus launched gliders, I have many treasured moments of early morning flying sessions and late night builds with my son - now a test engineer for John Deere. MY Thermic Series of hand toss gliders are great starters for young boy and their dads! Start your journey today.
ADVICE FOR THE NOVICE BUILDER
If this is your first venture into building and flying gliders I have a very simple piece of advice. Keep it simple. Stay away from the gaudy plastic and foam planes advertised on TV and sold in many hobby shops - most of them made in China. They're cheap kits that end up scaring away more folks than they attract. The problem with these planes like many toys these days, is that they use maximum bright and shiny stuff to attract the child, a price point low enough to attract the parent, and a product bad enough that it rarely survives the first couple of outings.
I like basic balsa wood gliders because they are fun and cheap to build. The building part is important because it teaches your son how to follow instructions, read a plan, and work with tools. Balsa is pretty forgiving so if they make a mistake it's never fatal. Once you've built the glider they provide hours of sport and entertainment. If you break something - take it home and repair it yourself. You can build a new wing, repair a crack in the fuselage, or whatever needs fixing yourself - which is one of those small but important lessons every boy needs to learn.
The other thing about balsa is the simple amazement that comes from taking a stack of flimsy wood and building something that actually flies - watch the look on your son's face as he tosses his glider for the first time! To get started I'd suggested buying a couple of Thermics. Build them with your son - fly them, break them, fix them - repeat many times. Once you've got the hand toss gliders mastered move up to the Thermic 50 or 70. These are classic balsa build-up gliders that will continue to hone your build skills and allow you to begin working with basic radio control components. After completing a Thermic 50 or 70 you're now ready to move on to the really really cool stuff - scale classic and vintage gliders.
I have been building and flying gliders since I was a kid. For me it started with a 10 cent balsa wood glider tossed off the top of a sand dune. They were cheap, disposable planes - we always bought a bunch of them on vacation just for the dunes. We'd toss the gliders off the top of the dunes then run down to the bottom and fetch the planes back up to the top. Each time seeing who could get the longest flight. But one time my plane didn't come down. It kept going up, and up. Like magic I watched in awe, eyes skyward, jaw agape as the little plane slowly kept circling up, and eventually out of sight. I was hooked.
Over the next 20 years I would build a small fleet of balsa wood "build-ups" - Oly II's and Gentle Ladys that were launched into midwest summer skies. I enjoyed building them. I enjoyed flying them. Nothing fancy. Two channel radios controlling rudder and elevator. Moving to the west coast in the late 90's opened a new form of gliding for me. Slope soaring. Combat foamies like the Zagi and 60" and 80'" composite crafts were now a passion. Most importantly, I was now able to share my hobby with my young son who was soon building and flying his own fleet of slope gliders.
There was a problem though. Speed. Slope gliders moved. And the guys flying them were good. Really good. See I could build them. I could launch them. I could fly them ok, but I had trouble landing them. Especially on some of the rock outcroppings that constitute many of our better slope sites in Northern California. So I was up to my elbows in aircraft carnage. And I found that I missed the simple art of gliding. Especially the feeling you get when you take a stack of balsa wood and build a glider with a 3 meter wing span.
So anyways, thats a little bit about me and why I do this. I hope you bookmark my web site and return back often!
HOW TO ORDER
Aerosente sells classic and vintage glider and sailplane kits. We cater to those RC modelers who enjoy building as much as they enjoy flying. We do not sell "ready-to-fly" (RTF) or "almost-ready-to-fly" (ARF) kits. Our kits come with all the major structural parts laser cut or CNC routed, hardware and plans. You will need to buy the long stock (spars, stringers, leading and trailing edges) and wing/fuselage sheeting and covering. And of course you will supply the servos, and other on-board electronics.
All of our kits are hand picked and packed from parts we either fabricate ourselves or purchase from a small trusted group of suppliers and vendors. Each kit is unique and ships in 2-6 weeks. This is how to order a kit:
1. Send an email to bolt55@aerosente.com indicating the model and scale you would like to purchase. Also include your shipping address so we can calculate the shipping cost.
2. Upon receipt of your email we will issue you an invoice via Paypal for the cost of the kit, plus shipping and taxes if applicable. You can pay our invoice with any credit card - you do not have to be a Paypal member.
3. Upon receipt of your payment we will send a confirmation email indicating funds received and approximate ship date.
Aerosente guarantees each kit to be free from defects in both material and workmanship. If any parts are missing from the kit or are damaged due to workmanship of the product, please notify Aerosente for a prompt replacement of damaged or missing part. This warranty does not cover parts damaged by shipping, use or modification. Aerosente's liability will not exceed the original cost of the purchased kit. Aerosente does not control the assembly or materials used for final assembly, so no liability shall be assumed nor accepted for completed kits.
We accept a variety of payment methods including paypal and credit cards through paypal invoicing. Please email us at bolt55@aerosente.com or call 415.246.4337 if you have any questions or need assistance with ordering, we appreciate your business!
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KLINGBERG 100" FLYING WING SAILPLANE Kit
do you sill make them
Posted by: Dale | September 12, 2009 at 09:00 PM