My lovely enabler, Melanie

Here is the Schweizer SGS 2-33a Sailplane Flight - Erection - Maintenance Manual

Back in the 1990s, I had the pleasure of living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a few miles from the U.S. Air Force Academy. On clear days (as were most), I could look northwest and and see bright yellow Schweizer SGS 2-33a gliders soaring high above the Rocky Mountain Front Range. The aircraft were being flown by AFA cadets who were participating in the pilot training program. The video below is a brief accounting of the program.

I have on order from Aerosente a 1:8 scale radio control model of the Schweizer SGS 2-33a. It will be finished to look like the full-size aircraft on display in the USAF Academy's Visitor's Center. The building and flying process will be documented on this page. Stay tuned...

OK, the [short] kit arrived today, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the workmanship. The two plans sheets look very well done, and the laser cutting of the parts is excellent. I have not tried to fit anything together yet, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy. Time will tell.

NOTE: I have decided to sell my kit due to lack of time to build it - Only $100 + shipping (contact me).

To the left is a photo of all the parts that came in my kit. I counted nearly 80 laser-cut plywood parts (fuselage formers & doublers, dive brakes, wing root ribs stiffeners, etc.). Three laser-cut 1/16" balsa sheets provided ribs, sheer webbing, while a single 1/8" sheet contained tail component parts. Metal rods and tubing for wing joiners, nylon hinges, wheel collars, the main landing gear wheel and the two small wingtip wheels, and even Golden-Rod pushrod sets were included. A nicely done molded canopy topped off the deal.

Since this is a short kit, which usually means you only get the components that you cannot easily obtain elsewhere, the inclusion of a few goodies was a nice bonus.

It will be a couple week before I get started on the building process, but I will keep this page updated with photos as I progress. There were no instructions included, so I will also try to post some useful notes along the way. If you have one of these kits and care to contribute your experiences, I will be glad to post them.