The "Staples Stingray" Glider Sneak Peak!

-Bungee-launched, Free Flight....and flights up to 250 ft. altitude and 1/5 of a mile far!

...Pictures, Videos, and more...

This is a sneak peak at my $5 "Staples Stingray" free-flight, bungee-launched glider I have very recently finished designing, modifying, and testing!  The design is a modified version of the FliteTest Nutball RC airplane, which is a modified version of the original Nutball by GoldGuy.

By Gabriel Staples
Written: 15 July 2013
Updated: 19 July 2013 (added more videos)

YouTube Video Link Here:

(for links to more videos, go to the bottom of the post) 

Related Articles:

• Building the FliteTest Nutball Swappable
• Getting into Scratch Building - 20+ Planes with One Motor and One Power Pod!
• Hat Cam
• This is What My Nutball (RC version) Can Do! - see my high-powered RC version of this plane on a very windy day

I have been spending quite some time now (about 3 months), figuring out how to build a SIMPLE, INEXPENSIVE free-flight glider for the Boy Scout troop I work with, and this is what I came up with!  I really think this plane does the trick, and it's tons of fun to launch, fly, and even chase and try to catch!

Here's a description of it that I wrote in my "Getting into Scratch Building...." article above.  Click the link at the top of this post to read that article as well:

"I have even prototyped and tested, for my local Boy Scout troop working on the Aviation merit badge, a $5 free-flight glider based on the NutBall, which is capable of being bungee-launched (via a home-made $25~$35 launcher) to altitudes up to 250 feet, and flying several hundred yards distance in a single flight!  My wife named it the Stingray (see photo of a stingray below), since the glider resembles a stingray flying backwards.  I would like to post the plans and video of the Stingray glider and bungee launcher when I get the chance, so other Boy Scout troops and do-it-yourselfers can make one too....


 I have also designed and tested what I call a "training fin" for the NutBall, which can easily be velcroed onto the top of the plane in order to make it self-right (roll level automatically) whenever it is banked.  This is really useful for a beginner as well.  (More to come on this; I need to write a post on it still too)."

Here are some sneak-peak photos of my new Stingray Free-flight glider below.

Hat Cam

Written: 15 July 2013

Other RC Articles:

• Arduino Microcontrollers, PC Board Tricopter Frames, & Home-made Cupric Acid Etchant
• Getting into Scratch Building - 20+ Planes with One Motor and One Power Pod!
• Parallel Charging Your LiPo Batteries

Here are some pictures of my hat-camera.  No, this is not my original idea.  I got it from other people online, and simply picked up some hardware from Home Depot that I thought would work best.  Here are some photos of what I put together.  I've been using the hat cam now for a couple years and it works great!  It doesn't aim perfectly (it usually aims just a little too high when I am really close to something, and just a little too low when I am very far away), but it works well enough most of the time.  The hat was free basically, since I had plenty of them lying around, and the hardware costed something like $3 maybe.  Certainly a wise investment I'd say.

Additional pictures can be seen below: