Thermal Dancer

 Span: 122"

Fuselage: Carbon and Kevlar pod with a carbon tailboom

Wing: White tops and natural carbon bottoms, made by Phil Barnes

Tail: Bagged Drela airfoils by Phil Barnes, handmade v-mount, full-flying stabilizer

All-Up Weight: 55-58 ounces depending on configuration

Add Thermal Dancer Kit to Cart - $650 + $45 shipping

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The Thermal Dancer is a hit with a lot of thermal pilots.  Check out the RCGroups thread on the Thermal Dancer: Polecat Thermal Dancer on the Way!  Photos below taken from that thread.  Thanks, guys!

 

Gerald Terfloth received the first production ThermalDancer, and wrote the following:

The TD is based on Mark Drela’s Supra design and soon available from http://www.polecataero.com. Denny made the voyage to the SKSS field to get the prototype airborne. We had marginal conditions, at best. After a couple of hand tosses, to dial in the full flying stab and for some last checks, the clubwinch provided a nice and straight launch. After 20 minutes, the maiden flight was aborted for some finetuning. We continued to fly - even in the rain, with the shortest flight coming in at 8 minutes without trying. This is a great flying ship with unique looks! I cannot wait for the next session and could not be happier! Let’s see how this new pilot/glider team holds up at next weekend’s ESL contest. I overheard some serious inquiries regarding ordering and leadtime. The queue is building…Pictures and details soon!

Some technical details:

  • AUW mid 50 oz
  • 122" 2-piece wing, all carbon bottom
  • full flying stab
  • Mark Drela planform
  • adjustable towhook
  • Full pedal launches are no problem
  • Can be put together at the field using one screw only (stab)
  • Equipment used was 2100 mAh rx battery, 2 HS85BB in the fuse, 4 HS5125 in the wing, Polk Micro Seeker, MPX RE 12 Synth w/ scanner

The conditions on Saturday were really marginal, at best, thanks to the hurricane that caused all the devastation in Florida. We flew in the rain… Denny had set up his JR radio in the shop and adjusted the CG per plan. A couple of hand tosses verfied the setup and proper (full flying) stab incidence. The first winch launch with gentle taps was straight as an arrow (Denny at the sticks). The air was buyoant but without any pronounced or developed lift, just some activity here and there. The maiden was aborted after 27 minutes to make some minor programming adjustments. Consecutive flights in ‘dead air’ were at least 8 minutes from moderate launches. We switched receivers (to Seeker) and radio (to MPX RE 12) and with the help of some of the Silent Knights rapidly entered a simple setup. Again, a couple of hand tosses ensured that all was well. BTW, these were not that different to look at than the Mark Drela video on the net. Educated guesses were 40+ seconds for a big arc. Several pilots of varying experience took turns at the sticks. The comments were all extremely favorable, some even thought it had Helium in the wings :-) The glider has some surprising handling qualities that one would not expect based on (first) looks. The dihedral makes it a very stable flyer, indicating lift similar to my XP3. The tail moment is ‘dead on’: excellent authority without being twitchy. Full trailing edge control allows to dial in flight dynamics from float to speed/penetrate. A full-pedal (Winchdoc winch) launch did not indicate any flutter or bend, except for maybe some elastic deformation of the aluminum wingjoiner.

I now have about 2 hours on the airframe and am in the process of finetuning aileron differential, flap to aileron coupling, and snap flap. Crow braking works great with about 80 deg flaps, aileron reverse differential and currently about 60 elevator compensation (my preference is to not have to push - I prefer to pull during approach). Should Mark Drela read this - please forgive me! Craftsmanship - if you have seen any of Denny’s planes, this one is right up there, maybe even pushing the edge. The wing is artwork, the molding on the fuse immaculate, the stabmount a beauty, I could go on…Due to my job, time to go soaring is precious. I am very happy to say that this glider has exceeded my expectations, FWIW, has a unique look, is built by excellent craftsmen, flys better than anything I had to this point, gets two thumbs up from Mantis pilots, goes together with one screw at the field,and it will give me a lot of opportunity to improve my skills while having fun.

Please let me know if you have any detailed questions. I know the above is very enthusiastic - I am a scientist working in R&D; while most of my ramblings are highly subjective, flight performance and comments by some very seasoned pilots support my joy. Well done, Team Polecat! Keep them coming!

Regards,
Gerald Terfloth