The 'Mode-zero Goblin' a simple S/C or intermediate glider

[Wayne_H]

We were flying today on Bosley Minn (South Easterly slope of the Leek and Moorland club - LMMGA) and I snapped this photo of two mythical creatures alongside a bird's thumb (click and click again for (much) larger view).

Martin,

I think you need bigger rubber bands mate

[Martin]

Is part of the Elf wing missing, or is it an optical illusion? The reason I ask is a I have a spare set of Elf wings somewhere in the shed if it would help you.

Hi Mike. Thanks for the kind offer, but my Elf is fine. There is a tear in the covering repaired with a bit of diamond tape, but that is inboard of the apparent missing section. It does look peculiar in the photo, but I think what we're seeing is a reflection of the wing tip of the other model.

You have two of my favourite models in the photo, I fly my Alula (Evo) and Elf more than all my other models put together. You can fly them nearly everywhere can't you!

PS have you built the Goblin already?

The Elf is mine, but the other two models in the photo belong to Robert. The 'Goblin' is quite old - one of the originals I think. It has the 'finger box' thing underneath the fuselage that is supposed to allow a more powerful throw, but I don't think it's desirable - is that present on the new plan?

I agree that the Elf and Alula are both fantastic, fly anywhere, models. I think the Elf has slightly better glide and climb performance, but the Alula is more fun for aerobatics. We didn't actually fly the Goblin yesterday as the wind was very light so we were basically DLG thermal flying from the hilltop - and the retrieve if you go down is tricky. Robert says that the Goblin is a lovely flyer and does great aerobatics, but needs a little more lift than the Elf or Alula to stay up.

[Igull]

Yep, one of Frog's lesser known designs and an absolute delight.

Well that's a new one on me, I've always been a Frog lover - I've probably read the Frog book cover to cover on numerous occasions too I wonder how many more I've missed
I did check the House of Frog site to see if it was a con - and there it was - not That did surprise me !

Cheers

Neil

[Sundancer]

Well that's a new one on me, I've always been a Frog lover - I've probably read the Frog book cover to cover on numerous occasions too I wonder how many more I've missed
I did check the House of Frog site to see if it was a con - and there it was - not That did surprise me !

Cheers

Neil

The excellent House of Frog site has most of the small rubber, rubber scale and some of the glider plans, but is short of most of the power models and all the control liners. If you Google FROG you will get lots of stuff about the plastic kits but sadly not so much about the flying models. Leaving aside the rubber models and the famous RTF Interceptors, off the top of my head I know of 13 F/F power designs (Cirrus, 45 Mk I, 45 Mk II, Janus, Vixen, Nimrod, Tutor, Strato-D, Zephyr, Tarquin, Fox, Firefly, Powavan), 11 gliders (Diana, Fairy, Fortuna,Junior, Petrel, Prince, Skylark, Vanda, Ventura, Vespa, Wren), 15 C/L (Aerobat, Attacker, Chimp, Condor, Gladiator, Tempest, Hornet, Mirage, Mosquito, Hurricane, Talisman, Vandiver I, Vandiver II, Vanfire, Vantage) and two R/C models (Jackdaw and Mustfire) but this is not meant to be a comprehensive list. A lot of good designs there and over the period from the 1930's to when they stopped producing flying model kits FROG had some good designers working for them - Judge, Buffery, Vanderbeek, Fletcher and Walpole amongst them. The kits were good quality and the models always flew - what more could one ask? I built many of them first time round in the fifties and sixties and, besides the Tarquin, have five other electric R/C versions in the current fleet - Zephyr and four of the rubber designs, Witch II plus three double sized ones, Mamba, Tom Tit and Widgeon.

[GarydNB]

Almost all of the above mentioned plans are now thankfully available on Outerzone ( how did we ever manage before OZ came along? Bless 'em!)
Gary

[Igull]

Hi All
As I've had no more mention of changing the name of 'aforesaid' s/c sloper and I really need to be getting on with other pressing projects, I am going to nail it at v1.0 and it's name is Mode Zero Goblin.
I'll do a final tidy and check of the plan and post it either tonight or tomorrow.
Phil asked if it would be possible to include the pre-notched wing spars - I may be able to do something mandraullically, but not on the laser as it's just too much faffing about to line up small strips - it'll be done on a hi-speed table saw. The boxes are always an issue, but I can at least laser cut boxes up to a max of 457mm which will fully contain a half sheet of balsa. That means that there will be only one join on the fuselage too. I can also cut 3mm balsa strip to suit if that is a general request. What I won't do are bespoke boxes of parts for obvious reasons.
The paper plans will be available directly from Derick Scott at modelplans@flyer21.plus.com - that also includes p&p - that's his paypal address too, so just ask him for the Goblin plan.
Anything else you can think of, please let me know ASAP.
Cheers
Neil

[Igull]

If poss, any chance of a more oblique fus join Neil please, the jigsaw joint on the Pulstar was mostly an end-grain butt-joint

Not a chance now that you've dissed my special jigsaw joints
I have actually changed them to an angled shark tooth style - maybe I'll rename them 'Phil Teeth'

Final plan is now in the downloads section BTW.

Cheers

Neil

[GeeW]

Now the BIG question for Neil.......when will the first batch of short kits be available? Will there be a pre-order book opened....oh and of course guesstimated price?

Regards

Gordon

[Igull]

Now the BIG question for Neil.......when will the first batch of short kits be available? Will there be a pre-order book opened....oh and of course guesstimated price.

Hi Gordon
I cut the first test set of ribs and other laser parts last night
I've also made the jigs to notch the LE & TE strips. It's ok when making cutouts for yourself for one model, but I did a run of 10 last night and realised why companies charge so much for bespoke kits
As for pricing, I won't know until I do a tally at the end - it's difficult estimating costs for handcut parts and material - I have it down to a tee for laser parts and material of course. Also, I need to cut boxes to suit - and there was I thinking that I had retired
That said, it would be good to have an idea of quantities - I'd prefer to make them in batches - unlike pure laser cutting which I do individually. If anyone wants one, pm me and I can put you on the list - there are 6 left from the first batch
Cheers
Neil

[RON]

Put me down for one Neil
Cheers.

Ron