I’ve gone ahead and created a Facebook Group for VTPR and Slope Aerobatics. It’ll be a nice and easy way for us to share cool stuff directly with one another… and of course I’ll pilfer the best stuff to post here! Check it out, have fun! 
Update: This Facebook group is blowing up! Getting new members like crazy, from all over the world, at a pretty rapid pace – certainly exceeding my expectations! Very stoked.
Laurent Berlivet of Jivaro-Models was kind enough to send over this amazing collection of photos. Many have been featured previously in French hobby magazines. There’s a wide array of notable VTPR gliders and sites, everything from the Air-100 at the beach in Brittany, to Excaliburs at Ménez-Hom, to Saltos in Andorra, and a whole lot more. Plus a handful of classic BPLR Giant Zlin photos – those never get old!!
Enjoy, and big thanks to Laurent for sharing these!!
Just having a bit of fun with a classic image of BPLR and his gigantic Zlin. VTPR really is quite serious business with a plane that large!
Part I – The French Invade The Slopes
In recent months slope aerobatics has witnessed a resurgence of interest not seen since servos went from the size of a small shot glass to something not much larger than your thumbnail.
On days when the wind was questionable, many of us kept one eye on the wind markers outside and the other eye on YouTube videos from France that demonstrated a new and strange approach to slope aerobatics called VTPR. Roughly translated, it means “aerobatics close to the ground.” But it was more than this. VTPR also demonstrated a style that emphasized an almost ballet-like approach to slope soaring that stood in direct contrast to the more hyperactive style commonly associated with the American aerobatic pilot. Where the French were dancing to the waltz, the Americans preferred rock ‘n roll.
Speechless.
That’s a word some might use to describe this beast, the latest creation from the mind of my favorite madman, Swiss Peter. It is 2.5m, 1.5kg and made entirely from EPP. It’s covered in “New Stuff” laminating film and uses a bunch of CF ribbon and tube spars for reinforcement. Full flying rudder and elevator. What an incredible machine…
When I was over at Peter’s place checking it out last night, I told him that never in my wildest dreams did I ever envision something like this.
He said, “Yeah, me either!”
Pretty awesome and exciting stuff!!!
Flight video to follow as soon as possible Flight video here! Peter is not happy with the elevator yet and is going to do some tweaks to get the overall weight down. Will post more details as they come available.
There’s a great page on the Fly35 website showing how to build wings for an Excalibur 2. If you were ever wondering how Breton VTPR models could be built so light, this should help you get an idea! Definitely worth a browse… check it out
FlyingTV.pl has an amazing collection of fullscale soaring videos… like the one above. Check it out!
You can find some great photos of the recent giant scale rencontre at Menez-Hom here. Very, very nice!!!
“I’ve come to realize that what I want is a four channel plane (flaperons/elevator/rudder) that will fly in lift similar to a Weasel and can take the same kind of abuse.”
Here’s the original drawing of the Le Fish as first published on RCGroups back in 2005. My design was influenced strongly from what I’d learned in flying my beloved Aeromod Voltij and studying open source plans and photos of the MiniToons v1 on EPP Concept, as well as experience with scale models of the MDM-1 Fox and S-1 Swift and lastly the Alula forward swept flying wing kitted by my good friend Michael Richter of Dream-Flight.
The plan was intended as a first step towards my stated goal above. The resulting commercial success of the kit offered by Leading Edge Gliders has been a wonderful thing to see develop and I’m so glad to have been able to give something back to the hobby and community that I love so deeply.
In that same spirit of experimentation and shared journey, I encourage anyone and everyone to learn what they can from this design, and make it better!
P.S. – Note that I eventually chose the SB96V (root) and SB96VS (tip) airfoil blend over the MG05. You can find the coordinates for the airfoils here.
I’ve had the great fortune to visit Spain again, and this time I brought my Weasel-Evo along. I contacted a friend I met on my last trip and we went to La Muela together… truly a dream come true! The wind was from the northeast at about 45kph (27mph) and the conditions were, for me, perfect. I’ve dreamed of flying La Muela for a very long time and I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better day, the only thing I was missing was my Le Fish!!
Some photos… ¡que día!
