You all may have noticed that I am again flying slope. Maybe not as rabidly as in the past but I do have plans to make flying a part of my life again.
While I do have a BUNCH of slope planes that I still own from the past, my current need for a sloper is to have a plane that is easily transportable when I go for bike rides. The portability of Dream-flight’s Alula-TREK looked like just what I needed to get back into flying more regularly. I’ve owned a bunch of Michael Richter’s planes in the past, and still own 4 Weasels, so the choice of an Alula-TREK seemed pretty easy!
There are several good build threads out there on the Alula-TREK and, truth be told, there is a lot of prefabrication on this plane along with the excellent instructions we’ve come to expect from Michael so I’ll dispense with the steps except to say that this plane goes together very easily and took me 3 hours or so to complete including the purple and orange paint!
For the flight pack I went the easy route and ordered the Alula-Trek flight pack along with the plane and used a Spektrum AR610 receiver to go with my fancy DX9 Black Edition that I picked up when my favorite local hobby shop was heading out of business.
Obviously, the flight pack works great with the plane. I’d go for a receiver with end plugs if I need to build one of these again. To that end I picked up a couple of Lemon RX’s small receivers and I’m inclined to add a dream-flight Libelle to my new fleet where I’ll use one of those.
Not withstanding that it is 9-degrees outside this week, I did get a bit of flinging and test flying in. Seems to be a good plane and I’ m now just waiting for an easterly breeze!
If you own an Alula-TREK, would you leave a comment below if you’ve covered the leading edge with anything and, if so, what did you use! Thanks!
I have one of these and it is a great little airplane. I got the flight pack and ballast weights from Dream Flight when I got the plane, I also have a Libelle. The plane is easy to build, very durable and flies well off a hand launch or slope lift. Once completed it can be disassembled and put back in the original box in a few minutes for transport if desired. I added some color to the plane with some Monokote self adhesive trim sheets and used some scotch clear tape on the leading edges.
If there is any weak point that I can find it is the unusual, fold-over clevises that tend to slip but they can be glued in place once the plane is trimmed. I would prefer threaded rod with screw on clevises but these work. Great instructions as well as a molded slot in the radio compartment for some ballast right on the CG. really well engineered.
The Libelle is fun too. It can be hand launched to a decent altitude and has lower wind loading than the Alula which allows it to fly off tiny slopes with almost no wind. I don’t know what the upper wind limit of the Libelle is but for higher winds the Alula is probably better.
Dream Flight is selling a Weasel Trek Slope plane that is supposed to be nice. Just got em in….
I have one. I have not covered it. I’m a novice to soaring here in SE wisconsin. I have flown at the Theresa Marsh a few times thanks to your site.
I absolutely love the Alula-Trek. Super-versatile.
I have two at the ready with receivers mounted.
Often the first plane launched at the slope, it
handles high and low lift, and gusty conditions.
Very agile, quite aerobatic, especially outside loops.
Follow the setup instructions carefully, as the Alula
is no fun to fly when out of balance or when
over-controlled by too much elevator throw.
There is noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made certain nice points in features also.
An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers