Champ STOL flaps

STOL = "Slow Takeoff or Landing".  Makes the Champ fly even slower and smoother.  Alpert writes:

I made them myself out of 1mm depron. Simply cut 6 small obtuse triangles for each wing panel and glue a 1/2" (12mm) strip of 1mm depron so that you get about a 20* angle in each one. The Champ flies perfectly well without them but I like to experiment with stuff like that.

Slope Soaring with HZ Champ

rcgroups user Goldentaco has a great video of slope soaring a Champ near the Berkeley Marina:

He notes:

Out flying today and found out the Champ can Slope Soar. I was able to run for over an hour on a 160mAh 1s. Throttle for launch or getting out of trouble.

and:

The soaring took place over near the Bulb in in I guess what you could call the Golden Gate Fields' North lot...where the beach access is for dog owners. You couldn't see in the video but it's the pathway coming down from the upper parking lot hill. There is a cliff facing the SF Bay that slopes from nothing on the North end ( right hand side of the video) to about 50 or 60 ft towards the South end. Cliff is about 100yds long where I was flying, then the road I was standing on and another cliff about 20 ft tall behind me so I could soar where the video was shot or loop around behind me as long as I was about 20 ft off the deck ( to avoid turbulence) and get some lift from that "cliff face" too. 

The "Lift Zone" was about 20 yds upwind to 10 yds downwind of the cliff face and up to 10 yds above my head. Not terribly big but like flying in the corner of a football field. You can see it lose alt. near the end of the video that' the edge of the upwind "Lift Zone". 

Gonna have to try  this! 

Build a cheap Champ?

Somebody at rcgroups mentions that you can build a Champ from parts and save some money over getting the complete kit.  Here's the parts page at wholesale trains and my best guess as to the parts needed.


$ 2.99 150mAh 1-Cell 3.7V 12C Li-Po for Ultra micro helis...
$ 1.99 Propeller with Spinner(130 x 70) for Champ, Hobbyz...
$ 2.99 Decal Sheet for Champ, Hobbyzone, HBZ4913
$ 3.99 Main Landing Gear for Champ, Hobbyzone, HBZ4918
$ 7.49 Main Wing for Champ, Hobbyzone, HBZ4920
$ 3.49 Pushrods with Accessories for Champ, Hobbyzone, HB...
$10.99 Gear Box with Motor for Champ, Hobbyzone, HBZ4930
$ 5.99 Complete Tail for Champ, Hobbyzone, HBZ4931
$37.99 Fuselage with Electronics for Champ, Hobbyzone, HB...

Update: Veccstr and leethetreeguy shows the smallest purchase to build a champ:

HBZ4952 - Fuselage with Electronics for Champ, Hobbyzone, HBZ4952 - $37.99
HBZ4920 - Main Wing for Champ, Hobbyzone, HBZ4920 - $7.49
PKZ3907 - Tail Gear Set: UM J-3, Parkzone, PKZ3907 - $2.71
HBZ4931 - Complete Tail for Champ, Hobbyzone, HBZ4931 - $5.99
(skipping main landing gear and prop)
TOTAL: $67.17 shipped to my door.