RC Airplane World Forum

salutations!
let me share my story:
a friend found a Carl Goldberg 'Sophisticated Lady' kit at a garage sale, and since "you like airplanes", the Lady is now mine. i'd really love to build her, and *maybe* even fly her ...

Carl Goldberg Models Inc. has discontinued the Sophisticated Lady, but she's still noted on their website. does anyone have experience with CG in general, this model in particular, or sailplanes in general?

i don't know the first thing about anything R/C, aside from the little bit of internet reading i've been doing. i'm a hands-on, learn-by-doing person, and i find a lot of the stuff i'm reading doesn't mean much until i can put it to use.

first of all, what can you fine folks tell me about sailplanes? am i getting in way over my head?
second, i'm looking for building tips. what kind of work bench should i use? the directions in the kit talk about using a building board that i can push pins into - what am i looking for? could i use a large sheet of corrugated cardboard, or should it be thicker? how do i choose a glue?
and finally, where can i find practical teachings about radio systems? what else do i need to know to get started?

thanx for a great site, and i'm looking forward to starting a new hobby in such great company!

Hi Skrambldeggs, welcome to the forum

I'm not personally familiar with that model, but I've just checked it out on the Carl Goldberg site and it looks very nice. I'm an rc glider fan and so can recommend a sailplane - they're pretty simple things to fly, especially if you keep it as a 2 channel with rudder and elevator, although ailerons are a good option to have.
I tried downloading the manual (http://manuals.hobbico.com/gbg/gbga1059-manual.pdf) for it to have a better look at the construction, but it wouldn't open for some reason

I can recommend a good eBook if you want to learn about building: www.howtomakercairplanes.com. It's not free, but it's an excellent resource and will teach you all you need to know to build from a kit. Actually that Sophisticated Lady is ARF, so there shouldn't be too much to do.

For a building board, you need something more than cardboard. Some kind of fibre board (MDF) is good, but it should also be something that you can stick a pin in to, so it shouldn't be too hard. Thick (2 inch) blue polystyrene sheet is another option.
The important thing is that it needs to be flat and big enough to spread the plan over. But, again, with an ARF plane then you're not going to be doing any proper building over a plan.

Skrambldeggs,
Welcome. Building models is a very rewarding hobby and if you like details then you are looking at the right hobby. Carl Goldberg has some very good models and this sailplane is a very good one from what I understand.

If you want to learn about building models then the best site I have ever found is http://www.airfieldmodels.com/index.html. The gentleman who put it together really knows what he is doing.

I build much the same way as this site suggests, with a magnetic table. Magnets are much easier to deal with than pins. I made my table from a nice flat desk which I covered with 24 gauge steel. I use a lot of different magnets and tools to hold everything in place.

Hey Jeff, great web link you posted there - I've not seen that site before, but now it's bookmarked for future reference

I know of the magnetic board method but have never used it myself, I've always been a pin man. What happens when you need to put extra pressure on a piece, say to put a bend in a longeron for example? Do the magnets hold the piece that strongly, or do you need to use other measures?

For something that needs a lot of pressure I resort to some rare earth magnets that I got a few years ago. They are small, about the size of a US quarter, but have 65 pounds of holding power. I either use them, or I just use some regular c-clamps.

Depending on the magnets you use, you can come up with some interesting ways to hold things.