When I started to look around for something to re-start RC flying, for the shortest time I considered the BoT. It's curves and lines have this "come-hither", classic look. And at 3 meter wingspan you won't loose sight of her quickly. But at that time (2002) there were only kits available. Lacking the skills, time and work area (not to mention the $$$) I set my sights on flying wings to start with instead.
I started with the 48" Unicorn. Added a Filip600Sport and some slopers. I got realy comfortable flying all those. Later I replaced my 48" 'Corn with a 42" version for some wilder yank&bank and some general scaring the heeby jeebiez out of birds, innocent bystanders, and fellow RC'ers. That left my Filip for the more sedate flying. And she just wasn't made for that. The Filip and Unicorn had overlapping flying charasteristics, and I wanted something to realy sit in my easy chair and thermal away.
Fast forward a few years.
Dynaflite came out with an affordable ARF BoT. They even have a short clip of a BoT test gliding here. Reading eagerly the various posts in RCGroups it was clear there were teething problems. The main spar in the wing's center section had serious problems, and had a tendency to snap under pressure. Apparently in earlier BoT's the grain of the wood of the main spar was vertical instead of horizontal. Or the other way around. In any case, it was the wrong way, and it made for a very weak spar that can break at too much pressure Like a winch launch). Much has been written on the web about this, but suffice it to say that Dynaflite added in the manual that the BoT was intended for hi-start launches and not (the much more powerfull) winch launch. Later on , they also seem to have solved the mainspar problem .
Add to this that I intend to electrify my BoT so I will have no need for a hi-start or winch. My BoT will not be subjected to excesive pressure on the wing during launch.
Offcourse, purists will always say that a "good" BoT is one that you build yourself from a kit. And they are right. There are several realy good kits on the market. One of the better ones seems to be coming from Skybench. Dynaflite also produces a kit, or you can just get the plans and build from scratch. If you do a search on RCGroups, you will get plenty of links. Don't expect that building from a kit or plan will be cheaper then the ARF version. But you will have the satisfaction of knowing that every piece of wood in that glider has been lovingly shaped, sanded and fitted by you.
But for people like me, who lack the skill, a knowledgeable support group, and build area there's the ARF market. After driving my friend Eli Sayag up the wall with my flowery descriptions, he also wanted a BoT. As he is on friendlier foot with his LHS then I am, he organised our purchase of two Dynaflite BoT's, thus keeping costs at an acceptable level. In the end, the LHS actually ordered 4 BoT's. He probably assumes that after seeing our BoT's in Israel, others will follow. Personally, I think he's right...
For some reason, Eli has the dilusional idea that I am very good at the assembly of an ARF with some modifications. Don't ask me why. So being the nice guy I am, I will be assembling his and mine. So if you see me fiddling around with two sets of wings, don't worry, it's not the bi-plane version (hummmmm, there's an idea...).
Apart from putting a motor in the nose, I will also install spoilers in the wing, and move the elevator servo from the tail to the nose. But more about that in the following building pages...