I built one in 1992. I flew it a few times and had to make a few repairs here and there. I still have it today sitting in my garage. Your video was great. It was calming and peaceful. And now I am inspired to put the gentle lady back up in the air.
It was really nice to see the Gentle Lady fly. As a kid in the 1980's, I built the original Gentle Lady kit and added a motor pod above the wing. I put so much time and effort into it that when I gave it it's first test throw, it nosed into the ground, and took a chunk out of the balsa wood nose I had painstakingly filed to a nearly perfect shape. I regret that I never had the guts to fly it again as it was an entire year of mowing lawns, and I was afraid of destroying it. I recently got a drone and now I suddenly want to build a big graceful bird with an electric motor capable of soaring above the corn fields. My finances, tools, and skills are a bit better now than when I was 12.
Gentlelady was my first RC glider, built in a trying time of my life in 1980, common law wife breakup, working 55 hours a week in first engineering job. Many wonderful hours spent. Some minor beginner crash rebuilds, a major one when it was mauled after a perfect landing by an unleashed dog. Have not flown in decades, but still gots, fully restored.
Mauled by a dog! As if we pilots don’t have enough to worry about! My Labrador, being a retriever, was very interested in, er, retrieving my models. However, being very astute, he soon got the gist of things, and now he runs to the planes and guards them!😂
There is nothing better in RC gliding than flying a GL on a light wind day. I have a very old Elektra and a scratch built GL. Your vid reminds me of the fact they need some air time soon. Lovely is the word that comes to mind.
I had a gentle lady for couple of years a great low speed floater.Then I got an Electra lady which was very similar but had a very crude electric drive train with no esc a heavy nicad battery and no folding prop but was good for about 10 minutes.Now I am completing a Sophisticated Lady arf for bungee and aerotow launch.Its fair to say I like the Goldberg gliders but I wish they would bring back the Gentle Lady with laser cut parts in a kit.
A superb video, the images, the glider, the music...Simply beautiful...I made my first ever R/C flight 35 years ago with a Goldberg Elektra. I still have it...
My first RC flight was with a Gentle Lady '2x2'. A family friend who lived in another state who knew about my teenage interest in flight loaned me the aircraft he had lovingly built in the early 80's (a few years before at the time). I hooked up with the local RC club and got some instruction with flights from a bungee histart. After one instructional flight, on my second flight I made a successful landing. On my third flight I hit a tree with a wingtip (but at a fairly slow speed). The aircraft spun to the ground. The wingtip was significantly damaged. I learned how to repair it over the next few weeks (and my Mom already had a Monokote iron). Soon after that the FCC regulation switch to narrowband made the wideband radio I had with it illegal. I couldn't afford to replace it. I did not fly RC again for many years and the repaired aircraft stayed in basement storage. Later after I got out of college the family friend asked if it had been all smashed up. I said no I had repaired the little damage incurred. A year or so later he came by to retrieve it to fly with his now young son. Thanks for the memories. The music matches what was in my head as I watched it fly originally.
This was my first rc plane, put the cox 049 on a wing mount and eventually used the high start but broke the wing, rebuilt it stronger to take the high start forces. Great plane!
What really amazed me is just how long that ultra-light structure lasted considering the endless, often heavy nose-plant crashes it endured. Glad to hear yours is still flying.
Learning to fly on your own, with a scratch built balsa glider. Most certainly the hardest way but also the most rewarding. I've got a GL and an old Elektra in the hangar. Allthough surrounded by composite planes they both still get their hours when the air is calm. Nothing like a GL doing a 'Nullschieber' over an evening inversion.
Yep, it was a disheartening trial for a while, not least because I didn’t know that there’s no point flying here when the winds are from the north or west - they create horrible turbulent air which can drop you out of the sky in a second. These are things you learn… usually, painfully! Then it starts all over again when you add ailerons. I kept my trainers light, slow and with built-in crash-resistant features, and always took advantage of long grass. My advice to anyone who wants to learn… buy a simulator!!!😂
I built an GL and an Elektra (electric motor-powered GL) some years ago and flew them both for many relaxing, enjoyable hours. I have hand-launched my GL into a thermal a few times which astonished my mates. I have a 1938 Comet/Carl Goldberg "Valkyrie" kit that I want to build if I ever get the time to do it. Great airplanes from a genius. Thanks for such a nice vid.
Taking a already lightweight design which modestly built comes out RTF at 25-27 oz/ 705-750gm, and builds it even lighter😳. Love the craftsmanship in the wing build. I learned the same mistakes you did although my torture device was a Goldberg Electra, I ended up totaling it. Learned my lesson tried again several years later with a EPP foam glider to learn to fly. After more the 20 years in the hobby now, I have Gentle Lady in my stable for teaching after my students abuse my foam gliders. It is so rewarding to see the their smiles after coming off the hi-start how much better it flies then foam.
I hope this video will hold some really nice memories for you… Your location is beautiful and I know you had some fun. Along long time ago in another time I had a gentle lady. There's nothing of it left just a distant memory but you can keep your video and I hope you find it very pleasing as it was for me to see the old ship once again. Thank you
I had one a long time ago. Used dual silicon rubber band to launch it. Had it up so high one time it looked to be only a inch big way up there. Flew amazing.
I built my gentle lady kit in the late 1990’s but it sat around unfinished and just finally had a successful maiden, flying good in early 2023. Had a few attempts over the years that failed and led to modifications, a few different revisions. It’s currently got an electric motor on the nose, a depron foam rudder and the wings have been clipped by a couple feet, with new polyhedral tips. She flies real nice and I’m happy to have her in the air regularly after all these years. Albeit rather modified.
Love watching this plane fly. Well done with the modifications. Beautiful 'rudder only' flat turns are something you don't get with ailerons. Forces you to watch your speed to avoid tip stalls.Too bad you had to retire the original in flames.
Nice pod-boom re-design. It looks to be flying nicely. For video recording, you might consider a cap (had) mounted camera. Will record where you are looking, so both hands free.
Best built without a motor, its good with a small hill. I built three, one I built so fast (going on vacation) It was upside down in the air, the bright AZ. sun confused me, the wings fluttered and most of the ribs split length wise. I seen the monokote covering reflecting and could see the wings were fluttering a litlle on one guys in a shallow dive. It was designed so well, the covering was important so I built some of my models with thin cap strips on the ribs to keep the wings from twisting.
Built a Gentle Lady in the early ‘80s, recognized it in the photo in one second. I actually got it to fly a complete circle once, after crashing it because of tip stalls hundreds of times. An engine and the additional of aileron control may have made this design a practical flyer. I believe I still have the servos somewhere…
Yep, I’ve logged about a hundred hours of r/c flying, now, and still crashing and learning. To fly, everything has to go right; to crash, only one thing need go wrong!
Glad you went with clear covering on that intricate wing. I've got an old Goldberg Electra: believe this was based on the Gentle Lady, but it has a big, clunky can motor and NiCD battery that will be swapped out for something newer before she flies again. Which motor did you use on the motorglider incarnation?
Yes, the transparent covering looked fabulous as she flew overhead with the sunlight shining through. However, I was a tad dismayed by the weight the bog-standard Hobbyking covering added. The motor is a 2822/14 1450kv, and the prop is from a Volantex Phoenix 2000. Good luck with your Electra.
Great Video! I just given a partially built Gentle Lady and I'm planning on adding an electric motor and prop. Thanks for sharing your experiences with it! By the way, What is Fuz? Is it short for fuselage?
Scratch built. I’ve since been experimenting with large split-ribs made from 1/32” balsa laminated with 1/64” ply. They’re very resilient to unplanned landings!😗
I built one in 1992. I flew it a few times and had to make a few repairs here and there. I still have it today sitting in my garage. Your video was great. It was calming and peaceful. And now I am inspired to put the gentle lady back up in the air.
It was really nice to see the Gentle Lady fly. As a kid in the 1980's, I built the original Gentle Lady kit and added a motor pod above the wing. I put so much time and effort into it that when I gave it it's first test throw, it nosed into the ground, and took a chunk out of the balsa wood nose I had painstakingly filed to a nearly perfect shape. I regret that I never had the guts to fly it again as it was an entire year of mowing lawns, and I was afraid of destroying it. I recently got a drone and now I suddenly want to build a big graceful bird with an electric motor capable of soaring above the corn fields. My finances, tools, and skills are a bit better now than when I was 12.
I learned to fly with one, my first RC Glider, what a model!
Gentlelady was my first RC glider, built in a trying time of my life in 1980, common law wife breakup, working 55 hours a week in first engineering job. Many wonderful hours spent. Some minor beginner crash rebuilds, a major one when it was mauled after a perfect landing by an unleashed dog. Have not flown in decades, but still gots, fully restored.
Mauled by a dog! As if we pilots don’t have enough to worry about!
My Labrador, being a retriever, was very interested in, er, retrieving my models. However, being very astute, he soon got the gist of things, and now he runs to the planes and guards them!😂
There is nothing better in RC gliding than flying a GL on a light wind day. I have a very old Elektra and a scratch built GL. Your vid reminds me of the fact they need some air time soon. Lovely is the word that comes to mind.
I still have mine I built in 1980. I haven't flown it in years but all I need to do is put a radio back into it.
Best slope soarer ever IMO. Carl Goldberg design perfection.👌🏻
I had a gentle lady for couple of years a great low speed floater.Then I got an Electra lady which was very similar but had a very crude electric drive train with no esc a heavy nicad battery and no folding prop but was good for about 10 minutes.Now I am completing a Sophisticated Lady arf for bungee and aerotow launch.Its fair to say I like the Goldberg gliders but I wish they would bring back the Gentle Lady with laser cut parts in a kit.
A superb video, the images, the glider, the music...Simply beautiful...I made my first ever R/C flight 35 years ago with a Goldberg Elektra. I still have it...
such a gentle innocent pleasure, somewhere between the stress of learning to fly and repair to the boredom of flying successfully around in circle.
My first RC flight was with a Gentle Lady '2x2'. A family friend who lived in another state who knew about my teenage interest in flight loaned me the aircraft he had lovingly built in the early 80's (a few years before at the time). I hooked up with the local RC club and got some instruction with flights from a bungee histart. After one instructional flight, on my second flight I made a successful landing. On my third flight I hit a tree with a wingtip (but at a fairly slow speed). The aircraft spun to the ground. The wingtip was significantly damaged. I learned how to repair it over the next few weeks (and my Mom already had a Monokote iron). Soon after that the FCC regulation switch to narrowband made the wideband radio I had with it illegal. I couldn't afford to replace it. I did not fly RC again for many years and the repaired aircraft stayed in basement storage. Later after I got out of college the family friend asked if it had been all smashed up. I said no I had repaired the little damage incurred. A year or so later he came by to retrieve it to fly with his now young son. Thanks for the memories. The music matches what was in my head as I watched it fly originally.
It’s funny how some designs are just ‘so right’ that they leave a trail of happiness in their wake.👍🛫🍻
This was my first rc plane, put the cox 049 on a wing mount and eventually used the high start but broke the wing, rebuilt it stronger to take the high start forces. Great plane!
Very Nice like the pod and boom set up
30 years ago was my first plane with a .049 cox...exelent.
My first as well thirty five plus years ago. On my second one which I still fly.☮️
I crashed mine many times, still goes.
What really amazed me is just how long that ultra-light structure lasted considering the endless, often heavy nose-plant crashes it endured.
Glad to hear yours is still flying.
Learning to fly on your own, with a scratch built balsa glider. Most certainly the hardest way but also the most rewarding. I've got a GL and an old Elektra in the hangar. Allthough surrounded by composite planes they both still get their hours when the air is calm. Nothing like a GL doing a 'Nullschieber' over an evening inversion.
Yep, it was a disheartening trial for a while, not least because I didn’t know that there’s no point flying here when the winds are from the north or west - they create horrible turbulent air which can drop you out of the sky in a second. These are things you learn… usually, painfully!
Then it starts all over again when you add ailerons. I kept my trainers light, slow and with built-in crash-resistant features, and always took advantage of long grass. My advice to anyone who wants to learn… buy a simulator!!!😂
I built an GL and an Elektra (electric motor-powered GL) some years ago and flew them both for many relaxing, enjoyable hours. I have hand-launched my GL into a thermal a few times which astonished my mates. I have a 1938 Comet/Carl Goldberg "Valkyrie" kit that I want to build if I ever get the time to do it. Great airplanes from a genius.
Thanks for such a nice vid.
I really loved your lightweight wing. And your test-flight field is idyllic. This takes me back many decades. I am very glad your Gentle Lady lives on
Great video. Loved this plane. I flew mine with a high start and later with a gas engine. She flies like a dream.
Also my first rc model, great times
I was flying the Lady in tonight’s sunset. Funny how some models become go-to aeroplanes.
Taking a already lightweight design which modestly built comes out RTF at 25-27 oz/ 705-750gm, and builds it even lighter😳. Love the craftsmanship in the wing build. I learned the same mistakes you did although my torture device was a Goldberg Electra, I ended up totaling it. Learned my lesson tried again several years later with a EPP foam glider to learn to fly. After more the 20 years in the hobby now, I have Gentle Lady in my stable for teaching after my students abuse my foam gliders. It is so rewarding to see the their smiles after coming off the hi-start how much better it flies then foam.
You live up to your channel name beautifully :)
I hope this video will hold some really nice memories for you… Your location is beautiful and I know you had some fun. Along long time ago in another time I had a gentle lady. There's nothing of it left just a distant memory but you can keep your video and I hope you find it very pleasing as it was for me to see the old ship once again. Thank you
The Gentle Lady is a great design. I learned to fly rc with one and I still have it and fly it occasionally. Cool nav light on this one!
I had one a long time ago. Used dual silicon rubber band to launch it. Had it up so high one time it looked to be only a inch big way up there. Flew amazing.
I built my gentle lady kit in the late 1990’s but it sat around unfinished and just finally had a successful maiden, flying good in early 2023.
Had a few attempts over the years that failed and led to modifications, a few different revisions.
It’s currently got an electric motor on the nose, a depron foam rudder and the wings have been clipped by a couple feet, with new polyhedral tips. She flies real nice and I’m happy to have her in the air regularly after all these years. Albeit rather modified.
Holy Cow, you clipped the wings by a couple of feet! It must fly quite fast now?
Love watching this plane fly. Well done with the modifications. Beautiful 'rudder only' flat turns are something you don't get with ailerons. Forces you to watch your speed to avoid tip stalls.Too bad you had to retire the original in flames.
I may yet revisit the GL with another ultra-light version. Meantime, I am head down building a modified Esprit. I can’t wait to get that topside!
Nice pod-boom re-design. It looks to be flying nicely.
For video recording, you might consider a cap (had) mounted camera. Will record where you are looking, so both hands free.
Best built without a motor, its good with a small hill. I built three, one I built so fast (going on vacation) It was upside down in the air, the bright AZ. sun confused me, the wings fluttered and most of the ribs split length wise. I seen the monokote covering reflecting and could see the wings were fluttering a litlle on one guys in a shallow dive. It was designed so well, the covering was important so I built some of my models with thin cap strips on the ribs to keep the wings from twisting.
Built a Gentle Lady in the early ‘80s, recognized it in the photo in one second. I actually got it to fly a complete circle once, after crashing it because of tip stalls hundreds of times. An engine and the additional of aileron control may have made this design a practical flyer.
I believe I still have the servos somewhere…
Tip stalls! R u kidding? This aeroplane is not called Gentle for nothing, it’s probably the most stable and vice-free r/c glider in the Universe!
@@crashrr2993
Yes, as long as you don’t try to make turns. It will land VERY gently and stay in ground effect for miles if you’re careful.
Since you got the hang of it, you should build another light weight and keep it a pure glider. Use a small bungee setup to launch.
👍🇺🇾🇺🇾🇺🇾🇺🇾💪💪💪👍
battery failure doomed mine or I'd still have it!
You have done well learning to fly on your own "wow" its difficult ,putting a carbon fibre tube through the fuselage greatly strengthens things 😀
Yep, I’ve logged about a hundred hours of r/c flying, now, and still crashing and learning. To fly, everything has to go right; to crash, only one thing need go wrong!
👍
Glad you went with clear covering on that intricate wing. I've got an old Goldberg Electra: believe this was based on the Gentle Lady, but it has a big, clunky can motor and NiCD battery that will be swapped out for something newer before she flies again. Which motor did you use on the motorglider incarnation?
Yes, the transparent covering looked fabulous as she flew overhead with the sunlight shining through. However, I was a tad dismayed by the weight the bog-standard Hobbyking covering added.
The motor is a 2822/14 1450kv, and the prop is from a Volantex Phoenix 2000. Good luck with your Electra.
Great Video! I just given a partially built Gentle Lady and I'm planning on adding an electric motor and prop. Thanks for sharing your experiences with it! By the way, What is Fuz? Is it short for fuselage?
Yes! Good luck with your build.
Amazing structure in the wing. Is this a kit or scratch build?
Scratch built. I’ve since been experimenting with large split-ribs made from 1/32” balsa laminated with 1/64” ply. They’re very resilient to unplanned landings!😗
Lovely scenery. Is this in the U.K. ?
Yes, near Lyme Regis.
Rc planes tend to evolve to their 'natural' weight, or maybe strength.
Nice video! However, I strongly disagree on your opinion about your piano skills. They are great indeed!