One of the barriers in combining the RC and model rocket hobbies has been the lack of affordable well flying kits that anyone can put together. In the past, Estes and Aerotech have both offered kits for building radio controlled rocket gliders (RCRG) but they never really caught on because the kits were fairly difficult to work with, or ended up being too heavy for the available motors and performance suffered.
A new company based out of Oregon has changed that. Dynasoar Rocketry has created a line of depron foam kits that can be flown on 24mm rocket motors, or as pusher type park jets with an adaptor.
Designer Frank Burke says his design philosopy is simple: “Make things that fly well, are simple to build, and that look like a real airplane or rocketplane. I prefer the profile designs because they are simple and light, will penetrate the wind quite well, but land like a feather”
Since there is no airfoil to the wings, the models can boost straight up with neutral controls without any tendency to pitch or climb. This means they can launch from a normal rail or rod and require minimal control on boost to adjust for any wind. Once the motor burns out, they are slightly nose heavy and require a small amount of up trim for a stable glide. The motor is not ejected and the model recovers ready to fly immediately.
The kits sell for $48.00 and two kits will fit in a box to ship for $10.00.