The Gentle Lady EVO started simple enough, I wanted a 55" span Gentle Lady using our EVO techniques. I figured this would get us right near the 250 gram mark. (Nailed it!) Pretty soon I found out I could not stick to this simple recipe, I wanted more! So the Gentle Lady EVO, well, evolved further.
Above all we wanted this plane easy to build. If you have not built a plane before, or it has been a long time, this is the plane for you. Don't worry we have not dumbed down the performance. She will do things you would not dare with the original and she is a thermal seeking monster! We paid close attention her flying qualities and fine tuned them during our prototyping stages.
We have kept the basic proportions of the original, but tweaked everything. First up the wing, the most important thing. You will find a simple but elegant nearly all wood design that is handsome yet strong. We use high qaulity balsa, and lovely basswood spars. In the center section hidden from sight is our "EVO" wing root that carries all of the critical geometries for a clean and secure fitment to the fuselage. (shown in orange below) This takes all of the complexity out of the wing build.
The wing uses Dr Drela's wonderful AG airfoils. We really have grown to love this airfoil family. We then used half ribs to help maintain that airfoil between the full ribs.
The tail is the next most iconic Gentle Lady part, it's what helps to pinpoint the design from the many copies on the market. While we kept a very familiar shape, the EVO tail is a little higher aspect ratio and a cleaner layout. We focused on making it easy to build, but with all of the wood grains properly aligned. And ofcourse, the tail self jigs onto the fuselage for a square fitment.
Now when it comes to the fuselage, we took a lot of liberties. I'm sorry but but I'm just not a fan of the boxy Gentle Lady and the radio hatch. So triangle stock in all corners, while a handsome canopy for radio access found its way onto the design. But the biggest change is the is 2 piece mid wing, no more rubber bands! This makes transport and storage a breeze, no more giant wing to store between flights, no more twisted wings. Now your Gentle Lady can be a great travel companion.
The fuselage uses our EVO bulkheads and self aligning construction methods, this delivers a nice straight fuselage without all the fuss.
In the build you have the option to build it as an electric with our brushless folding prop setup, or as a pure glider. Heck you can switch back and forth if you want to turn some screws. Our motor in a spinner is designed just for the Gentle Lady Evo. Not adapted from something else. We designed it to be clean, efficient and very budget friendly with plenty of performance from a 2S lipo pack. 1:1 thrust ratio.
We really like placing the motors inside the spinners of our gliders for a cleaner install in the radio compartment as well as some advantages for the CG.
- Here is a link to our build manual. >>HERE<<
- Wingspan: 1400mm / 55 in.
- Drela's AG blended airfoils
- Length: 736mm / 28.9 in.
- Flying Weight (electric): just below 250g / 8.8 oz
- Controls: Rudder, Elevator, Throttle (optional)
- Construction: Wood with Quick Build Bulkhead assemblies
- Electric motor optional
What's Included:
- High quality wood with exact laser cut parts
- Quick Build assemblies
- Carbon Fiber spars and stiffeners
- Full scale printed construction plan
- Link to detailed building instructions (always up to date)
- Pushrods, linkages, control horns.
Suggested radio gear:
Servos - She is designed to use the Emax ES9052 or ES9051 family of servos. For gliders, the ES9051 is a good low voltage option, for the electric build, the ES9052HV is a good option for higher voltage setups. We do not suggest any servos larger than these.
We will add more data for the motor and spinner here very soon! They just are not up on our site yet.
Battery - For the electric a 2S 800mah lipo is what we consider the "large" option. This battery will make CG, and still have decent room for the receiver and ESC and still result in an AUW below 250 grams. A slightly smaller or larger battery can be used depending on your requirements. For example a 450mah pack can save good weight even if you have to add some lead to the nose of the model to make CG.
Receiver - Smaller the better, only need 3 channels. We like the FrSky R6 lite as it is small and very budget friendly.
ESC - again, small is great. We like our tiny Orbit 25 and or the very budget friendly Hobbywing 15 amp. Avoid bulky ESCs if you can.
Covering - We love our Flying Film, we offer a range of colors. It is not as heavy as some, so helps keep the weight in check.