WindRider Bat Slope Glider

bats at the slope

Oh, The Bat! What can't be said about the Bat that hasn't been already said about a brick with wings? Well, I guess I could say a little -- this thing ROCKS! Our man Gordy got a bunch of us in the club together and bought about a dozen Bats from WindRider in Hong Kong (this was before California Sailplanes was importing them) and we built them for the Frankfort slope. I think mine ended up weighing nearly two pounds all-up weight. Most of that weight sits in the very "beak" of the beast.

Despite the high weight of the thing it flies like it is on rails and retains a lot of energy! Now, while you probably shouldn’t combat with the Bat, as it tends to not recover very fast from “hits”, you can do dynamic soaring (aka DS, DS'ing) with it, and since it is made of EPP it is a great trainer for DS.

The kit itself costs $50 + $10 shipping from California Sailplanes, and it is very well made. There are preformed holes for servos, battery and receiver and a full-length spar. Ming from WingRider even throws in all the packing tape, strapping tape, and even some little plastic whistles to embed in the wing.

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