Allegro-Lite

The Allegro Lite is a built-up 2-meter competition model sailplane with a composite (kevlar, carbon fiber) reinforced spar designed by Dr. Mark Drela. The finished model should weigh around 18 ounces and be capable of of a full-pedal winch launch.

UPDATE: I’ve recently (April 2005) completed my Allegro-Lite, and she ended up right under 19oz all-up-weight. She is a great flyer and I’ve managed to hand-launch her into thermals with ease! Awesome plane, and takes a winch launch very well!

FURTHER UPDATE (August 2005): Oh no! My Allegro-Lite went down in a blaze of glory! For some still-unknown reason, my Allegro-Lite went into the ground from about 200'-300' up. It impacted the ground about a 1/4 mile away from me over some trees. All pieces and parts were recovered. A repair is expected to take some time...

plans / information

• Allegro Lite Plans @ CharlesRiverRC.org
  • The Charles River RC site hosts all of Mark’s plans, as well as numerous free plans from other contributors. This is the place to start.
• Allegro Lite Discussion Group/File Store @ Yahoo Groups
  • An absolute trove of information. All plans, tips, hints, part listings, airfoils, etc are here. The core of discussion regarding most of Mark’s designs goes on here.

walk-throughs

• James Osborne’s Allegro Lite Build Walkthrough
  • An indispensable, albeit incomplete guide to building the Allegro Lite. A couple LASS members and I intended to flesh this walkthrough out. I have also mirrored his walkthrough here.
• Thomas Wang’s Allegro Lite Build @ RCGroups.com
  • A light pictorial review of an Allegro Lite build from Beijing, China! I love the Internet. Excellent craftmanship by Mr. Wang.

allegro-lite build photos

• Ben’s Allegro Lite Build Gallery
  • My step-by-step pictorial of my Allegro Lite build, with wordy documentation, based heavily on James Osborne’s walkthrough. After a couple of requests, I have also made a ZIP archive of all my build photos (16 meg).
• Thomas Wang’s Allegro Lite Build Gallery
  • I asked Thomas if he’d allow me to host his photos of his Allegro-Lite build, and he graciously agreed. Not step-by-step, but plenty of photos to review.

part suppliers

• Tailboom.com, supplier of the Allegro tailbooms and teflon pushrod housings
• Laser Arts, supplier of the laser-cut ribs and shear webs for the Allegro Lite, among others.
• Lone Star Balsa, supplier of all the balsa you’ll need to complete the kit.