Sapphire 2m

Got my Sapphire in time and my Geronimo had only a few starts before winter came to Norway. G showed good characteristics already! Tail building of G wet well because of the ready drilled 4 holes in the boom. Sapphire tail caused me trouble, NO ready holes here. Don't understand why Horejsi didn't do so !
Elevator angle of attack (S) is showed on a simple drawning and sanding the elev.pod according is a little trick. This detail Washington not fond in instructions for Geronimo, så I will certainly modify her pod too.
These to ships are well designed, superlight and super-skinned. Can't wait for flying these planes. Compliments to Neil for good webside, and good service You could possibly need !!

The Sapphire (aka Q12) is a light F5J that can be made even lighter. The tail group would benefit from the use of a spring-pull system, i.e., torsion springs and string. This modification is relatively easy to do if you have some experience building DLG's. The overall benefit is reduced tail weight and a cleaner appearance. There are no unsightly exposed pushrods nor cables.

The conversion require reducing the height of the pylon that supports the horizontal stabilizer. I removed about 6-7mm. The shortened pylon placed the stabilizer nearer the boom, allowing the tip of the elevator control to fit inside the boom. A slot was cut into the boom for the control horn. With the tip of the elevator control horn now inside the boom, it is a simple matter to run string from the control horn, down inside the boom, and to the elevator servo in the pod.

For the rudder, another slot needs to be cut into the boom just below the horizontal stabilizer pylon mount.

The link below has some photos.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GmU8_4upyyB-bHz2ix1Y0gB3JP37dB1I?usp=sharing

The quality of the model is absolutely first rate, my only compliant is that the build instructions are really rather poor. The online version is a tad better with useful photographs, but all a bit second rate. So if you are an expert builder this will be no issue, if a little rusty (like me) it is suboptimal, but in truth it looks simple enough to put together.

Judging by earlier reviews, this kit has undergone some improvements. The wing mount ply is installed and the wing bolt holes have been tapped accurately to ensure that the wings are aligned correctly. The motor mount is drilled for 28mm motors and has been epoxied in position. All the components are made to a high standard and the kit goes together very easily. The instructions are still basic, but the German build log, translated by Google Translate, should clarify most points to the inexperienced. The kit was very well protected in the stout cardboard box in which it came, and response to the order was as rapid as we have come to expect from Hyperflight. The weather has prevented its maiden flight, but the design has been well received by earlier reviewers and I confidently expect it to fly beautifully.

A follow up on my earlier review when I first got the model. I am still impressed with this little glider, It is amazingly light and performs a lot light a bigger model, until it gets far enough up or away to be too hard to see. I was impressed enough with the build to also recently buy the bigger Geronimo.

I now have two different Sapphire fuselages for two different purposes, using the one wing and tail.

The lighter carbon fuse set up with a very light motor, using 3s450 cells and weighing only 460g, Its a delight to fly for fun, and for informal HL competition.

The second fuse is the heavier glass version which is set up for our AUS Limited Energy even. This is a 5min event with all motor time deducted from the score. So it needs a fast climbing glider with heaps of power. I have a longer outrunner with 3s850 HV battery, running at about 70amps. Only half the power of some competitors with old F5B gear, but the model weighs only 650g so it still goes up very quickly. The 5min task can be done with as little as 2 secs motor.

The light structure has no problem with the rapid climb, I did have to change the wing servos for some stronger ones, but my first batch were very light and cheap to suit the ultra light set up.

There are a few other Sapphires owners on our glider circuit and all the owners are very impressed with this little model.

Absolutely spendid plane! Over all high quality parts and construction for all of it. Three flights on the plane today and it is a keeper. It penetrated well into the wind and wanted to float at its big girl weight of 620 grams. I have an extensive and often too wordy build log at RCG for those interested in this glider.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2304576

All in all, I am very happy with the plane and would seriously consider having a second one around. The service from Neil at HyperFlight is excellent and that only makes ownership of the plane that more satisfying.

Its now September, I now have much more experience of flying these through-bread gliders. Sapphire has been a 'gem' to fly and set up, particularly having plenty of room in the pod for radio/servos, a problem on some of the gliders I have seen.

Time has lead to experimenting, 'black wing and tail underside' makes it really visible. A black fin helps on climb out too, the black under wing contrasting strongly with the day-glow red panels that it comes with. Black satin acrylic car paint as a 'puff coating' works OK

Something I have added is a ballast tray under the CG. In my setup, I can get upto 200grs in but find the ideal weight is 140grs. In this guise she handles winds from approx., 10 to 18mph to very good effect.

Holding her own on the numerous practice days with the two Omegas in the club. Its been windy a lot on our field this year, all retired, so we get a lot of practice in, Sapphire gives as good as she gets in her ballasted state.

Tomorrow will be the first competition I have flown Sapphire in, forecast, NNE 14-18mph! Sapphire I'm sure will do her bit, its the pilot that worries me . . .

CJS

This model took only 3 and a half days to get to Australia. I assembled it in a few more days with cheap 6g servos, and a 2208 outrunner. With 3s450s it weighs 450g. It climbs adequately for a 30second to 200m F5J flight. It is surprisingly nimble for such a light model, well able to track back upwind in a moderate breeze. Thats needed because being so small and so sleek it gets difficult to see very quickly when following lift downwind.

Purchased early January, I spent a lot of time working through the building process in my mind, the instructions assuming one has built such a model before, I had not. Anyhow, a little commonsense and a few ten of years building conventional balsa models saw me through. My only gripe is the carbon push rods are supposed to pass through lengths of half inch supports spaced along the top of the boom? This is not made clear in the instructions. A call to Neil sorted out how the rods were supposed to be applied, I said I did not like the idea of exposed push rods . . . no problem, Neil sent me 2m of PTFE outer tube, arrived the next day, it glued easily with CA glue to the top (outside) of the boom.

The rest of the assembly went well, the pre-fitted motor bulkhead was glued in spot on, with the correct thrust lines. In fact the quality of fit all round is excellent.

Not a beginners model, but then its not for the inexperienced pilot either, which brings me onto the flight performance.

Initial flights were OK . . . I took some advice from pilots with experience of trimming such models. Slowly I got to grips with the functions of my Hitec Aurora 9, these new computerised TX's do make life easy. One also got to grips with the way Sapphire flies, tiny, very tiny adjustments make obvious trim changes,

She now flies like a thoroughbred, treat her right and she delivers, get it wrong and she will bite back. Today was here first real flight against other similar craft, it was obvious the only limitation is the pilot . . .

Sapphire is capable of being flown to a limit I did think was possible, smooth and responsive, indicating tiny lift bubbles. In such conditions, you are so close to a stall care is needed, she will go right to the edge!!! That said, if you push here over, the stall is straight, so not difficult to recover from. I ended up flying her on the trims, so as this allows this 'to the edge style', a click or three of down trim is advised on the landing approach.

Mixing flap/elevator produced a landing approach that was nothing short of perfect, I was able to take thumbs of the sticks, she landed herself on the spot . . . Take the pilot out and she is perfection!!!!

Excellent service from Hyperflight, top model, first competition in just over a week . . .

CJS

Overall I love this model even though I’ve not quite completed it and have yet to grapple with transmitter programming. It’s simply beautiful, cleverly designed and the overall quality is magnificent. However a total novice would not find it easy to assemble; it needs a modicum of experience, ingenuity and skill particularly as the instructions need a lot of thinking about. I found these are not always clear or comprehensive, even so I gained a lot of satisfaction figuring out how to do things and perhaps find better solutions eg fitting tail surfaces*. Whilst the pre-fitted motor mount is a huge bonus the model would also benefit from marked (or even predrilled and tapped M4?) wing mounting holes and defined pod pushrod exit locations.

*My stupidity/misunderstanding of instructions lead to a non-fatal mistake (don’t ask), that misaligned the tail and boom so in the process of rectifying this I found an easy accurate “upside down” way of assembling it.

“Ignore the carbon pins for the moment and don’t drill yet. Bolt the tail to its mount and then jig the boom horizontally with scrap so it rests on the mount with the fin hanging down over the work surface edge. Ensure the boom rests snugly in the groove of the upturned tail mount and pack the tail so it’s level and doesn’t rock on the bolt head. Roughen the contact area on the boom lightly and smear the groove with epoxy then place the boom in position (ensuring there’s clearance between fin and elevator TE). With a set square held on the underside of the work surface it’s easy to eye-ball that fin and stab are (albeit upside down) exactly at right angles. Once set adjust the stab/tail so that it and the boom are at right angles. Drill carefully, using the pinning holes in the tail as a guide (don’t assume the dimples in the mount will assure a square set tail!), drill down through the mount until you “feel” you have gone through the top of the boom. Remove the tail and glue the pins in place ensuring enough projects to lock the tail and that no glue exudes onto the mounting surface (I “injected” thick slow set cyano into the holes and pushed the pins in quickly). Voila, a perfectly square fin and tail.”

Beware ~ Cyano is mentioned for gluing the balsa tail mount to the boom BUT as it melts the foam (thank goodness I checked with a smidgeon in a servo well) don’t glue the carbon pins into the fin with cyano.
Beware ~ Noticed Tail/stabiliser bolt (one of 5 in kit and all = in length) to mounting plate was too long and would push the mount off or damage the boom if not shortened.

Great plane flys like a bird. 5 stars.