Has anybody owned a masterline preacherman 100s ?

[Jaybritish]

Hi all, i was wondering if there were any old pilots out there that remember Jon Wesley`s Preacherman?? a 100 inch sailplane made by a british company called Masterline.

I have aquired one from ebay she comes with no plan, only die-cut parts and some building notes, so as with any old kit the first thing to do is make templates from the original ones and keep the kit intact as is

 

I have a few questions if anybody can answer them about this kit?

Does anyone out there know what wing section this kit used?

It says on the box it is a top competition  pedigree and was designed to be a thermal soarer, now not one to knock the kits words as i have never flown this glider, but does it fly as stated?? i have owned an MFA high sierra which stated the same sort of thing in there kit and to be honest that bird few ok apart from poor rudder responce, but it was never a out standing model as they had worded it.

If anybody owned one, what mods did they do to make it better or would have done? looking at the kit, airbrakes would be one mod to add.

[JG]

Hello Jay - No i have not owned 1 but did watch it on Ebay and was thinking about bidding for myself   i will keep a watch on this post and look forward to the build thread

[oipigface]

There's an obituary of its designer at '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>.

[Peter G]

I built a preacherman when I was 10 in 1984. It was to be a step on from the two super snipes I had flown before.

 

However, all it really did was serve as a lesson in building. I sent it off up the bungee line and it went up straight and true, a dab of down as it came off the line and oh, oh no, up isn't working. The model went into a terminal dive and went straight in to the ground.

 

I had not glued the flexible sullivan type push rods at any point down the fuselage hence, elevator control was non existant trying to pull out of a dive. The model didn't repair as it was splinters and I think I moved into RC cars after that

 

Unfortunately as the flight only lasted about 25 seconds, I can't really comment on its flight characteristics but it looked great when built and finished in some snazzy new (at the time) metallic solarfilm.

 

Good luck with the build, its got me all nostalgic.

[Woodstock]

..because it's more fun than having some ol' buzzard carrying on about what's wrong with your plane  ?

[Jaybritish]

I'm intrigued as to why you want to keep the box contents intact and make copies? are you intending to re-sell the "original" on E-Bay then? and if so - why?

All you've got to do then is work out how to beat all the moulded "Trackers" - good luck with that.......

Pete

BARCS 1702

 

 

Hi Pete

Why keep the kit intact? simply because its such a rare thing as this kit is out of production building my own has a lot of benifits no foam wings which are never that strong and light, the veneer has also started lifting which is normal for a kit of this age but would you trust it? From what i have seen in my time some kits from this era never had the best quality, your comment on the balsa confirms this. Poor grade... it sure is The balsa has a lot of pith, looking futher at the kit, it has also been updated at the time to save money. You see now why i dont wish to build it ? For example looking at the side of the box, you have all the fuselage parts layed out with a full lenght ply doubler and built up fin, in the box you have a sheeted fin with a bellcrank box, building my own will be lighter and stronger than the one in the box and closer to the one pictured on the side of the box. The full lenght ply along the fuselage nolonger used and a ply reinforcement patch is used instead, this holds wing dowels also too strenghten up the scarf joint on the fuselage. Not sure what else they have change to save on costs, is it a good reason to build my own?

 

beating a tracker lol never,but i can loose in style just like when you see an old capri or cortina passing by, which do you look at? the moden car or the old one lol

I think thats why i have gone back to the old sailplanes, there is nothing more rewarding and more fun than seeing something you created/built in the sky for a fraction of the cost too

True modern sailplanes have come such a long way, but i feel we have also lost something in our sport. When you think of a young person starting out with very little money these days and knowledge they will miss in building something, an old sailplane is always going to bring him/her in touch with our sport alot easyer than a hitec full, house carbon ship at the fraction of the cost. Competitions now days are sadly are for those that can afford it, the more money you can fling at your hobbie the better sailplane you can have. So my question is, does it come down to you being a good pilot to win or a good pilot with a deep wallet? when you look at the costs involved these days in getting all the gear just to get in the air.

When i was competing you could build or design your own, turn up and have a go at flying an event, while having a good chance to place some where good depending on your skills  ))  it was pritty much an even playing field and anybody could enter. Not only was it was based on your skills at building but flying well too.  After getting home with a big grin on your face, telling all your friends about what happened, the big names you had seen there and competed against that was a good days flying with fond memorys still. Back then there was nothing really hi-tec about most of the gliders, now we have the  equivalent of Formula1 gliders, it not that i am opposed to them but how many average day people do you see competing in Formula 1?  Ooops sorry that has turned into a bit of a rant lol my apologies

[satinet]

 

Hi Pete

Why keep the kit intact? simply because its such a rare thing as this kit is out of production building my own has a lot of benifits no foam wings which are never that strong and light, the veneer has also started lifting which is normal for a kit of this age but would you trust it? From what i have seen in my time some kits from this era never had the best quality, your comment on the balsa confirms this. Poor grade... it sure is The balsa has a lot of pith, looking futher at the kit, it has also been updated at the time to save money. You see now why i dont wish to build it ? For example looking at the side of the box, you have all the fuselage parts layed out with a full lenght ply doubler and built up fin, in the box you have a sheeted fin with a bellcrank box, building my own will be lighter and stronger than the one in the box and closer to the one pictured on the side of the box. The full lenght ply along the fuselage nolonger used and a ply reinforcement patch is used instead, this holds wing dowels also too strenghten up the scarf joint on the fuselage. Not sure what else they have change to save on costs, is it a good reason to build my own?

 

beating a tracker lol never,but i can loose in style just like when you see an old capri or cortina passing by, which do you look at? the moden car or the old one lol

I think thats why i have gone back to the old sailplanes, there is nothing more rewarding and more fun than seeing something you created/built in the sky for a fraction of the cost too

True modern sailplanes have come such a long way, but i feel we have also lost something in our sport. When you think of a young person starting out with very little money these days and knowledge they will miss in building something, an old sailplane is always going to bring him/her in touch with our sport alot easyer than a hitec full, house carbon ship at the fraction of the cost. Competitions now days are sadly are for those that can afford it, the more money you can fling at your hobbie the better sailplane you can have. So my question is, does it come down to you being a good pilot to win or a good pilot with a deep wallet? when you look at the costs involved these days in getting all the gear just to get in the air.

When i was competing you could build or design your own, turn up and have a go at flying an event, while having a good chance to place some where good depending on your skills   ))  it was pritty much an even playing field and anybody could enter. Not only was it was based on your skills at building but flying well too.  After getting home with a big grin on your face, telling all your friends about what happened, the big names you had seen there and competed against that was a good days flying with fond memorys still. Back then there was nothing really hi-tec about most of the gliders, now we have the  equivalent of Formula1 gliders, it not that i am opposed to them but how many average day people do you see competing in Formula 1?  Ooops sorry that has turned into a bit of a rant lol my apologies

 

 

surely it is almost entirely down to who is the best pilot nowadays.  All the top gliders f3x are basically equal, so the only real deciding factor is pilot ability, including tactical decisions, plus team work (even in f3f).  You can't go out and buy a meaningful advantage in technology. It's less of an even playing field if you can get a glider that has a major advantage in performance over the rest of the field. Yes the contemporary models are expensive, but they do actually result in a level playing field contest wise.   

 

Most kids are probably going to want to play Grand Theft Auto V now rather than bash some balsa, but then they are not allowed out on their own, or within 1/2mile of a "stranger" these days, so it's not just down to laziness. It is a shame that there isn't a route in to soaring for young people, but I think a lot of that is down to lack of critical mass - lack of numbers & clubs etc

[satinet]

..because it's more fun than having some ol' buzzard carrying on about what's wrong with your plane  ?

 

yes but you do get incidents like people turning up with a model with the wing on the wrong way round.

[Woodstock]

yes but you do get incidents like people turning up with a model with the wing on the wrong way round.

Sure.  It's all about HOW it's done really - with empathy and tact, or not.  Some people can be a bit scathing - I remember my first model was a 400 size helicopter. I took it to a shop owner for his opinion and a check over before attempting any flying.  Bloody 'el, I should have worn a flame suit that day: he was NOT subtle    ...

[Jaybritish]

 

Most kids are probably going to want to play Grand Theft Auto V now rather than bash some balsa, but then they are not allowed out on their own, or within 1/2mile of a "stranger" these days, so it's not just down to laziness. It is a shame that there isn't a route in to soaring for young people, but I think a lot of that is down to lack of critical mass - lack of numbers & clubs etc

 

So true ...

[Jaybritish]

The story so far, have drawn round the fin to get the shape and sketched what i want to build in place of whats in the kit.

So its should now be lighter stronger than the plank provided, new fin post is 1/16 ply both sides with a balsa core for hinges later on.

This project is a bit of a pick it up when i can  so will keep you updated as things progress. 

[EssexBOF]

I knew John very well and give some detail on him in my book on Page 122. He was most active glider wise interest late 70,s _ 80,s, until he joined Ripmax.

The first and only Preacherman, that I remember was larger than 100s, more like 130" plus. I think the wing section was E193 or very similar. It suffered from terminal wing failure at a comp at Cowley on tow, due to the webbing between the spars, having the grain running spanwise rather than vertical as is the normal. It was rebuilt and he flew very successfully for some time, as he was a very good flyer able to detect lift, even at the top of the towline, when underneath looking up. 

He went on into helicopters when at Ripmax in a big way, but returned to gliding later on even taking up free flight just before his sad loss at a relatively young age.

Always good company to be with and sorely missed.

 

Brian. Austin 230

PS I think Masterline was something to do with Precedent kits and Oh yes forgot that I had written about him before in an obituary, with much the same comments