The Vladimir's Models
Sprite Thermal is a very efficient fully molded 2m glider intended mainly for competitive and sport thermal soaring. The advanced design by Dr Mark Drela gives excellent performance as a highly competitive 2m thermal soarer. By combining low weight and large ballast compartment the Sprite Thermal is equally at home in calm and windy conditions. Its well-balanced controls, excellent speed range, and outstanding thermal soaring capability make it particularly attractive to expert flyers who are looking for 3m performance in a conveniently compact 2m package.
Like other VM models the Sprite is optionally available with servo frames with bearings and internal IDS linkages ready fitted. This simplifies installing the RC massively. Whether these have been fitted or not is indicated with text like
Aileron and Flap IDS fitted for MKS 6100 below the colour in the
Available Options area below the price. The number refers to the servo family, in this case MKS DS6100 or MKS HV6100 servos. Other servos will generally not work as the servo splines are incompatible between KST, MKS, Futaba, Hitec, etc.
The Sprite Thermal has a polyhedral wing with an EDA of 5 degrees, making it very easy to thermal, even at the limits of visibility. The AG40/41/42/43 section hollow molded wings have carbon spars and large ailerons and flaps, extending the speed range at the low and high speed ends of the polar. The fuselage is fitted with a ballast tube so adding ballast weight is easy, further improving the speed range.
The attractive Kevlar fuselage and removable carbon canopy hatch are highly streamlined producing an extremely low drag and sleek pod. The molded-in wing pylon reduces interference drag and the long high modulus carbon tail boom and conventional cruciform tail ensure excellent handling. The molded tail assembly holds the superbly engineered all flying tail mount. The model is easily transported with its two-piece wings and removable tail.
In addition to the exceptional design the other outstanding characteristic of the Sprite is the very, very, very complete build done at the factory, with the following items already fitted to perfection: canopy, large ballast tube, tow hook, tailboom, tailplane mount, and rudder and elevator Bowden cables. The only work required is gluing the fin and fitting the RC.
| Sprite Thermal Specification |
|---|
| Wing span |
2.0 m |
79 in |
| Wing area |
36.5 dm2 |
565 sq in |
| Length |
1.32 m |
52 in |
| Typical flying weight |
720 g |
25.4 oz |
| Wing loading |
19.7 g/dm2 |
6.5 oz/sq ft |
| Aspect ratio |
11.0 |
| Wing airfoil |
AG40/41/42/43 |
| Tail airfoil |
NT12-NT14 |
| Dihedral angle |
6.5º |
| Centre of Gravity |
95-104 mm from wing leading edge |
| Tailplane neutral |
51.5 mm from top of the boom to the centre of the leading edge |
| Controls |
Elevator, rudder, flaps, ailerons |
| Sprite Thermal Typical Weights |
|---|
| Fuselage |
155g |
5.5 oz |
| Wing (SC layup) |
392g |
13.8 oz |
| Hoz tail |
25g |
0.9 oz |
| Vert tail |
12g |
0.4 oz |
| Accessories |
41g |
1.5 oz |
| Total structure |
625g |
22.0 oz |
| Ballast capability |
480 g |
17 oz |
| Recommended Servos |
|---|
| Elevator & rudder (13mm) |
KST X08, KST X10-710, MKS DS6100, MKS HV6100, KST DS113MG, Blue Bird BMS-126WV |
| Flap (13mm) |
KST X10 Mini, KST DS135MG, MKS DS6100, Ripmax SD150, KST X08, KST X10 Mini, Blue Bird BMS-115HV, Blue Bird BMS-125WV, Blue Bird BMS-M15V |
| Aileron (12mm) |
KST X10 Mini, KST DS135MG, MKS DS6100, Ripmax SD150, KST X08, Blue Bird BMS-115HV, Blue Bird BMS-125WV, Blue Bird BMS-M15V |
Recommended Control Throws & MixesSee the Setup Template for Blaster-Sprite-Supra-Vladimir.pdf file (link below).
Post by RCGroups member
jtlsf5 after his maiden flights with his new Sprite Thermal:
Caught a break on the weather today. After way too many days of steady rain, it cleared, giving me a chance to fly the Sprite. Went to my local community college flying site with a zip start and set up. Three flights and a little over an hour of air time later, I'm a believer. Launches were high and straight with the tow hook all the way back, and the ship needed very little trim to settle in. Great little plane. Agile, efficient, signals lift well, lands like a feather. This is a keeper. My 95 mm CG seems pretty close with just a little pull up in the dive test. One thing I did find was that after setting up aileron-rudder coupling proportional to my Supra, the Sprite wanted about 15% more. With that dialled in, turns were smooth and clean. --Jim
