Radio Controlled Rocket Glider Kits

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Welcome to the world of rocket boosted radio control gliders.  This is not a model for a novice RC pilot, but anyone who is comfortable with RC flying of a medium speed model should be fine.  Read through the instructions, look at the photos and be sure you understand the step before commiting to cutting or glue.

DeltaDart Rocket glider instructions

Identify all pieces, the kit should contain:

1  wing  taped together

2 wing spars(carbon fiber)

2 pushrods

1 vertical stabilizer​

2 foam Intake pieces

2  short foam motor mount reinforcing strips

2 Body Tubes

1 Coupler

6 foam blocks 

Motor mount

Velcro(for battery and rx/bec attachment)

2 Rail buttons with t nuts/plastic inserts/screws or 1 Launch lug

3 landing skids

3M blenderm tape

Lead weight

Spare depron

Notes before starting:

Reference to CA+ means foam safe CA+, normal CA+ will melt the foam!  Normally you need to use accelerator to get the CA to set on the foam since there is nothing for it to soak into and activate.

You may use 220-320 grit sandpaper and a sanding block to slightly round the edges of the foam if you prefer that look.  It will not markedly impact the flight performance either way.  Be very careful and use a light touch, it is very easy to catch the foam on the edge of the paper and tear the foam.  Do any sanding before assembly.

Epoxy is not needed in this model.  Weight is critical and the model is designed for the thrust and flight loads.  Weight in the rear end is bad and will require additional weight in the front of the model.

Assembly:

1. Unfold the  wing and glue the tape joint using CA+ and accelerator, make sure it is flat
   
2. Glue the two wing spars in the pre-slotted areas on the bottom of the wing with CA+ and then tape over with the included blenderm tape.
   
3. Body Tubes.   One tube will have a a mark on the inside of one end and the slot for the vertical tail,  that is the rear of the model. 
   
4. Glue the other body tube to the coupler, making sure to keep the wing alignment line on the two tubes aligned.
5. Lay the wing rightside up on a flat surface.  Using CA+ foam safe glue glue the body tube to the wing.  Use the pencil marks on the body tube as a guide at the front and back. The rear of the wing should be 3" forward of the rear of the body tube, the tube should be marked for the front and rear of the wing.  This is critical in order to have the CG in the right location.  The vertical tail slot should be up.  Make sure the tube is centered.​
6. Glue the motor tube on the bottom inside of the body tube and even with the end of the body tube.  Make sure the motor tube is aligned straight with the body tube.   You can look down the front of the body tube and see if the motor tube is straight.  There are no centering rings needed or desired because you may need to reach wiring or weight at the rear of the model.  The motor tube hook is only taped on one side, you want to be sure you don't glue to the tape or hook.  Use the alignment line on the motor tube and inside of the body tube for alignment. 
   
7. Glue  two short foam reinforcing strips on either side of the motor tube and add a fillet of CA+ to help support the motor tube.
   
8. Glue a foam engine intake plate on each side of the fuse/wing.  The notch will go ahead of the wing leading edge, and fit over the rear of the wing.  The intakes are designed to angle toward the body slightly.  See photos.  If you want to sand the top edge round do it before gluing these in place, the intakes are marked right and left because the wing joint is cut at a slight angle to make it fit better.
   
9. Glue the vertical stab to the fuse using the tab.  Make sure it is 90 degrees to the wing, is straight and reinforce with a slight fillet. 
10. ​ Glue the two horns/pushrods into the pre-drilled holes in the control surfaces.  The holes will face forward toward the front of the model and the pushrod should be inboard, closest to the body tube, repeat for the other side, again with the control rod inboard closest to the body tube.  These glue into the bottom of the control surface/wing.  Flip the wing over and put some CA over the posts where they stick through the control surface to lock them in place.
    
11.  Install the rear and forward rail buttons.  ​Use a tool to start a hole in the bottom of the wing through the body tube at the two points marked on the wing.  Insert the plastic plug only with CA and glue them in place flush with the wing.  Then screw in the rail buttons.  Using a tool make two holes for the front skid in the location marked on the wing and glue in place with CA.  Make sure the skid is in line and ahead of the front rail button so it won't drag on the rail.
    
12. Glue three of the flat 1" by 1/2" wide foam blocks to make a stack.  Do the same with the other three pieces.  Using a tool make starter holes and mount a wing skid into the top of each stack.  We will attach these to the bottom of the wing later.

The basic construction is now complete.

Radio Installation

Note:  Your radio needs to be configured for Delta mixing, this means that the servo arms will move the same direction during elevator stick movement and opposite for aileron stick movement.  Connect your servos to the receiver one in the aileron connection and one on the elevator connection and apply power.   Use a servo arm at least 9/16” long and with holes small enough that there won’t be slop with the pushrod wire when installed.  I use the hole furthest out on the servo arm, to maximize movement. On some servos there are a long two-ended servo arm, you can trim off one end if needed to get sufficient length.   Zero out any trim settings on the transmitter. The model once the motor has burned out is nose heavy and flying wings lose pitch authority when nose heavy so you want as much up elevator travel for trim/flare as possible.

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• Connect a servo to each pushrod, the servo wire should be closest to the center and the output shaft is outboard toward the wing tip.   If the wire is too tight, you can use twist an exacto knife in the servo arm hole to make it larger, but be careful and do not make it too large.  Once connected, tape each servo in place so that the control surfaces are centered.  Flip the model right side up and look at it from the rear.  Moving the transmitter stick back(up elevator) should move both elevons up.  Moving the transmitter stick to the right should move the right elevon up and the left elevon down.   If you can’t get the servo reversing to give you the right polarity try swapping aileron/elevator inputs to the receiver or turning the servos over and swapping the servo arms to the other side of the output shaft.  If that is correct, continue.
  
• Flip the model upside down and supported.  The servos may be attached to the model using double back servo mounting tape(not included) or by directly gluing the servo to the wing with CA+ or a small amount of epoxy.  Double back servo tape can loosen over time and with exposure to heat, I prefer to glue the servo in place.  With the radio still on, put a small amount of glue on the servo, being careful not to get any near the output shaft. And set it in place on the model keeping the control surface centered.  Do the same to the other side.  Make sure the glue is set before continuing.  The servo and pushrod should be at 90 degrees to the hinge line so that it moves easily and fully. 
  
• Flip the model back right side up.  Make sure the control surfaces are centered, use trims if needed.  Now measure the control surface movement.  Full elevator movement should be 1” in each direction, aileron movement should be 1/2" in either direction.  Since the model will be nose heavy, extra elevon movement helps to give sufficient authority during glide. 
  
• If you have a flap/elevator mix you can program up elevator to a switch setting.  The model needs approximately  1/4” of up elevon during glide and slightly less than1/8" of down trim for boost.  If you can’t set the up elevator trim to a switch on your radio you’ll have to manually put in boost and glide trim which is hard to do while flying the model.
  
• Attach a 12-18" servo extension to each servo.You just need to be able to route the wire to the front of the tube to attach it to the receiver.
  
• Make a 1/8" by 1/2" long slot in the bottom center of the wing/fuselage and pass the servo wires through to the inside and toward the front.
  
• Attach the servo wires to the receiver and make sure they are going the right direction.  Tape down the servo wires to the wing and tape over the slot in the body tube.  Make sure the servo wires will not drag on the rail. You can cut a light slot in the bottom of the wing and push the wires down before you tape them to help them be out of the way of the rail. You can also cut a small block of foam from the spare included to plug into the slot on the bottom of the wing where the wires pass through to hide the hole before taping.
  
• Use the included Velcro to attach the receiver 2" from the front of the body tube(or enough to allow the wires to clear the shoulder of the nose cone). This allows you to be able to remove and replace the receiver if needed for repairs or for removing the servo wires. I attached the battery with velcro inside the body tube on the bottom far enough back so that it doesn't interfere with the nose cone shoulder.  Glue each of the wing skid/foam stacks you made previouosly in fron of each servo.  Make sure the servo output arm and wire do not hit the block.  The idea is that these skids/blocks will stick down further than your servo and prevent the servo arm from being damaged on landing.
• Insert your heaviest loaded motor in the model.  Support the model upside down at the balance point indicated for boost.  I use two pencils with the eraser pointed up and held in place with a small hand vice.  Place the model upside down on the pencil erasers on the balance point indicated in the kit spec sheet.  Use the included lead weight  to balance it. Do not try to fly the model with it balancing it behind this point.  The adage is, a nose heavy model flies poorly, a tail heavy model flies once
  
• If you paint the model, make sure you test it on scrap foam first.
  
• If you are going to paint the model, you can mask off the servos.  Make sure no paint will get on the servo output arm.  Make sure to test the paint on a scrap piece first to ensure it won’t melt the foam.  I use Model Master(testors) or testors small rattle cans for painting directly on the foam. 
  
• I used  vinyl for the trim colors on my model.  With the vinyl from stickershock23 it helps once applied to use a hair dryer on hot to soften the material and then push it down onto the model with a towel.  It helps it confirm and stick much better, especially on painted surfaces.   
  
• I used markings from stickershock along with some self adhesive vinyl trim cut to shape for a few little details.  Mark at stickershock23 can create anything you wish.
  
• Use a  black sharpie to add panel lines if desired, I ran a fine line sharpie into all the panel lines in the nose cone and it really sets it off.   I also used silver sharpie for some accents.
  
• Re-install the receiver and battery
  

Flying:  See the Instruction/Information link at the top for flying instructions Note, my prototype needed a small amount of down trim on boost and as it gained speed arced back up vertical.  Be ready on the first few flights to keep the model straight till you have the trims set perfectly for boost and glide.

DeltaDart Rocket Glider Kit

​The DeltaDart RC Rocket glider kit. Features a clipped low mounted delta wing and simulated engine intakes.  It has a light wing loading giving it a very nice glide and easy/stable boost.  It comes with a plastic Interceptor nose cone, 2" white tubing for the body and depron wing and tail surfaces.  Construction is very simple and takes about an hour.  You will need two 10 gram type servos, two 12"-18" servo extensions, a receiver, and a small 500mah single cell lipo battery.  You will need a transmitter with delta or elevon mixing.   Please refer to the notes on items needed for completion and flying, then read the instructions completely before starting assembly.  The assembly photos are for general reference but may not include every step in the manual. 

​​CG location for rocket flight: 11.5" forward from the TE of the wing or 14.5" forward from the rear of the body tube(it should be the excact same spot)

**Note my prototype needed a small amount 1/16" to 1/8" of downtrim for boost and 3/16 to 1/4" of uptrim for glide.

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