Leprechaun EP Glider Kit - Model Avaition 

I've always been fond of this model. I was unaware that it was being offered as a kit though. About 22 or 23 years ago I built one from the original plans. The Leprechaun was originally a free-flight model, which is why it is so easy to fly. On the original, the wing was on a pylon above the fuselage. Also, the vertical tail was above the horizontal stabilizer, not behind it. The entire tail assembly was mounted to a sort of pedestal a bit above the fuselage. Pylons and pedestals are rather out of fashion these days, so mine was done the same arrangement as the one in this video. One of my club mates built one with ailerons. He'd never flown a model that didn't have ailerons. To me, the ailerons just seemed like more work than they're worth. Turns out the ailerons were pretty ineffective, the guy ended up having to mix the rudder to ailerons in order to get it to turn properly. If I were to do any modification to my Leprechaun wing, it would be to add spoilers. A number of times I've thermalled mine pretty high. To keep it from getting too far downwind, I usually put the stick in a bottom corner and spin it down. On one occasion, the thermal was going up faster than the plane was spinning down. I decided to point it straight at myself and push the nose down. A Leprechaun running downhill really picks up some speed, you have to keep adding down elevator to keep it pointed downhill. Eventually, even with full down elevator, the plane starts to level out and pull up. When I let go of the stick it pulled up hard and did two loops. I learned that I could use full down trim and just use the rudder to hold heading. It porpoises between about 15⁰ nose down and almost level on the way down, with pretty decent penetration. That model is still around. It has been repaired a few times. It's easy to fix, and it has been completely recovered twice. It is the model I first taught my son to fly. My son still has it. He has put a brushless motor on it. I expect that when my grandson gets a few years older, he will also learn how to fly the same model. It is one of three models I've built from plan. It is a good flying plane, and a great trainer. I don't recall exactly how many people have learned to fly RC on my Leprechaun, but it's probably in the 40 to 50 range.

4000 mAh battery? For balance, I presume, but it’s probably good for a long flight, or several flights. That old time look is ver nostalgic, more appealing (to me) than the extreme, form follows function competition moto-gliders of today.

Wow that is the ultimate in relaxing flying- looking forward to reading your review next month.

Loved that landing!

Gorgeous glider....some have ailerons and some dont....is that a builder add on..thanks for the video...

Good video. Like your disposition.

Would love to Build one!!!

Beautiful!

Very nice Aircraft, id love 1 but my wife would kill me ,just no room left for that beast ,nice flight mate thanks for sharing 🤙🤙

Monster bird..🎉

Very nice! Good job.

It looks like you enjoyed flying this one eh?

I built the SIMBAD 98" from pichler Same type of glider , magique !!!!