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So What is it ?
The Schempp Hirth 'Mini Nimbus' is a 15m class, racing glider, first produced
in the mid 70's and early 80's. It was a second generation flapped machine, and
at the time represented the height of technology in the gliding world.
Naturally as time progresses the 'Mini' has been superceded by ever more
advanced designs, and today, it provides an 'affordable' alternative to the
latest hot ships, while still being not so far off 'the pace'.
Dick Johnson made a very thorough review of the mini nimbus in December 1977,
which you can read a copy of here.
 | Bare Specifications |
Span 15.0 m./ 49.2 ft
Area 9.86 sq. m. / 106.1 sq ft.
Aspect ratio 23
Airfoil Wortmann FX 67-K-1 50
Empty weight 235 kg. / 518 lb.
Max Payload 215 kg. / 474 lb.
Gross weight 450 kg. / 992 lb.
Wing loading 45.64 kg. / sq. m. / 9.35 lb. / sq. ft.
Structure fiberglass, optional carbon wings and tail.
| Performance |
L/D max. 42 106 kph / 57 kt / 66 mph
Min. sink 0.58 m/s / 1.90 fps / 1.13 kt
The Mini-Nimbus, is a direct development of the Open Class Nimbus 2 with a
new smaller wing with both dive brakes and flaps, which may be operated separately
or together to provide unusually effective glidepath and landing control. Water
ballast is carried in sealed tanks lying along the spar. All controls connect
automatically as the flying surfaces are installed, and the trim lever needs to
be set only once per flight; thereafter changes in flap setting (-7 to +10
degree) automatically cause trim compensation.
The original version had an all-moving horizontal tail, but the C model is made
with a fixed horizontal tail, optional carbon fiber wings and tail (which reduce
the empty weight by 20 kg. /44 lb.) and a modified trim system |
