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.

(Below) Stingray glider next to 3 separate bungee launchers: a short, medium, and long one.  The short one launches to ~90 ft high, the medium one to ~150 ft high, and the long one to a maximum of ~250 ft high.

Stingray Glider Videos:

1) Flight Test Crashing--(Approximately failed flight #50/70...ish in the flight-test phase)  (yeah.....this happened a LOT.....I flight tested for well over 12 hrs. before I got this glider to repeatedly work, not to mention the dozens of hours in the workshop figuring things out with how to modify things and build the launchers, launch hook, fix the plane, etc)
2) "Staples Stingray" Free-flight glider bungee launch w Lauren & Carter, Med launcher --Excellent Flight!
3) "Staples Stingray" Bungee-launched Glider Backflip/Loop
4) Staples Stingray glider launch---oops, I left the elevator set way too high from the loop flight
5) Stingray Free-flight glider bungee launch & Catch! - I caught it!


Let me know what you think via the Comments section below!  Just click the "no comments" link underneath this post if you are leaving the first comment.  Thanks!