When I was a mere lad (and we'll have no "weren't you scared of the dinosoars?" comments!), I discovered the  Jetco Thermic 18 'cause the really cool Thermic Dart kits were all taken by the older guys in the church sponsered model club called "Sky Pilot's". In near desparation I built one and found it was a real performer. buit a new one every two weeks for two summers straight. Several in the off season too.

If built and trimmed to the plans the thing will fly O.O.S. or land on the HS gym roof, or HS pool or...break  or... . The point, is the design is a classic and IIRC the plans are available online. It's nearly fool proof and 9 year old friendly. I built one about two  years ago. I still have an original set of plans and cereal box templates for the wing and stabs.

When trimmed for quasi side arm Rt hand launch, the model will climbout in rt circle. About the time the model is flying down wind it will transition to left glide. If thrown overhand, it will climb up into a 1/2 loop, do a half roll at top, and begin lt hand glide.

Well, the Sandpiper is almost done but still needs to be doped to seal it up plus a few more tosses to trim and dial in. I took it out this morning and gave it a couple of light tosses in the backyard just to see what it wants to do and the first toss had it bank to the right and hit the back of the house after about 25 feet of glide. When I walked over to retrieve the plane I realized there was a slight breeze coming from around the back of the garage and it might have been what caught the plane and banked it right. Next two tosses were into that breeze (maybe 5mph) and I got two smooth, straight glides of about 35'.

We've had nothing but rain lately and the grass was still pretty wet so the little bugger was starting to soak up some moisture from the landings. I'm pretty pleased with the initial tosses and will wait until the balsa dries then put a light coat of dope to seal it.

The Sandpiper is a towline glider design but seems to glide well as a hand tossed airplane. Being planked it's on the heavy side but I'm sure it could be scaled down to a stick fuse and sheet balsa wings very easily. Here are the specs:

Wingspan: 36 in.
Wing area: 135 sq. in.
Length: 24.75 in.
Aspect ratio: 9.5:1
Air foil: Mod NACA 4412
Weight: 3.5 oz

Here's a pic of it:

Dug out an old plan for a "Sandpiper" glider and have been scratch building it for a week so far. When I get it done I'll give it a couple of tosses and post the measurements of the flights.

I have a replica 404 that I built YEARS ago from a "plan" from one of the US model mags.  Took me a while before I got it sorted, but now flys consistantly.  I have a thread on SFA in the GLIDERS forum here along with more from one of the other members who is also "re- issuing" the design (hopefully).

I must have had at least 50 of those buggers when I was a kid.  My Dad got smart after the first 5 went bye-bye (YES, they were that good ) and started buying them by the half-dozen.

I made my pivot/dihedral brace from unclad pc board (glass) material - hand cut & drilled.  The relationship from the pivot, cross-tube rubber band carrier (that also acts as the wing-fold stop) and the length/strength of the rubber band are CRITICAL to the fuctionality.  There is a very good reason that Walker was awarded a patent for the plane.

I thought I had a link to a guy who was manufacturing replicas of the AJ Walker folding wing Interceptor but can't find it now. Might be worth a googling.

http://www.americanjuniorclassics.com/interceptor/interceptorhome.htm

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=930303

I built one when I was a kid. Got the plan out of some magazine my dad was getting. Solid balsa thing with about a 12" WS. Glided real nice but even steep launches didn't get much altitude or a real long flight. Clever as I was back then I made this thing up that has a sail and is wind powered up a kite string and meant to release a parachute when it hit a stop by the kite. Seemed like the ideal way to get some long flight out of the glider so...

The glider was last seen headed for the next county east of me.

Thyme,
I'm interested but no video capabilities...only digital camers   Maybe when my ship comes in...Ha Ha!!!

Let me know...I'll keep watching
Sky9pilot