Oct - Rcsoaring.com

Rol Klingberg built and flew hang gliders and flying wingsailplanes. You can find a picture on the internet of Rolpiloting his full scale flying wing hang glider, sitting in a hole ontop of the thing with his head sticking out, looking for all theworld like Santos Dumont getting ready to cross the Englishchannel in some alternate universe.All across America are there are two meter spruce and balsaKlingberg Wings, stuck up in the rafters of the basements of RCsailplaners — some still in the original box. Some folks swear bythem, and some folks still swear at Rol for kitting the darn thingin the first place.Somewhat less common is the Klingberg Wing 100, the balsaover-foamcore five servo floppy-winglet wonder from the early1990’s. This story is about my adventures with the KW 100. Butthe story starts a little earlier than that.I started flying RC in 1993, and soon after getting control ofmy Goldberg Sophisticated Lady I started looking around formy next plane. The 2M KW caught my eye. Due to my limitedbuilding skills, that was probably a mistake. I eventually got itinto the air, but it was truly a dog. The sliding tray mixer, as Ibuilt it, neither slid nor mixed. I got a computer radio and solvedthat problem. The 2M KW wallowed in flight, with adverse yawthat had to be seen to be believed. I learned about the floppywinglets on the big KW and fashioned some of those for the2M, and the plane became manageable in flight, but it was nota pretty thing to watch.I never thermaled the 2M KW, not even once. Its majorachievement in flight came on the slope over in Newark, Ohio,when it flew right through a Zagi LE and cut it in half. Oneday while bungee launching the KW, it achieved lock-out,spiral divergence and total destruction, faster than I can inputthose words into the word processor. I gleefully ripped out theelectronics and stuffed the tattered remains in a trash barrel.Thus, I find it hard to explain to myself why I wound up buyinga completely built KW 100 a couple of years later. I guess I justhave a thing for wings.—————Tom Hoopes of Sandy Utah had advertised his completelybuilt KW100 for sale on the RC Soaring Exchange. He offeredit complete with servos and battery at a very reasonable price.I had heard that Tom Hoopes was an immaculate builder, andwhen the big box arrived via UPS I was soon able to attest tothat. The cardboard shipping box itself was better built andbetter looking than any of the planes I had constructed to thatpoint. I still use that box to store and transport the KW100 tothis day.October 2008 57