Rick K
Posts: 260
Joined: 11/16/2003
From: Fontana,
CA, USA
Status: offline
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HI, Well I followed the link you posted . . . That Renny 2M looks like a really nice plane, before looking at it I was going to reccomend the Spirit Elilte ARF but as I like a light wing loading I would have to really think about it, if the 4oz Sq/ft difference favoring the Renny is worth the extra $100 it costs. I really like a plane with as light a wing loading as possible and by any standard anything less than 7oz is light. As I recall the Spirit Elite is at around 9.5oz Sq/ft. You asked what the deal is about wing loading . . . Geez, now we're going to open Pandora's box, for some folks wing loading 'discussions' can lead to fisti-cuffs. Seriously, different people have different opinons and Ive seen popular majority's shift twice since Ive been in the hobby. First light as possible was thought of as the way to go (mid to late 70's) They designed plane so light and, as a result, fragile that you'd be lucky to get more than a few flights on them. Folded wings were very common as were snaped tails. Remember: Carbon fiber was still a secret, brand new material just beginning to be used in full-scale aircraft.
The reasoning was that lighter planes needed less lift (thremal activity) to stay up and had as a result a higher L/D ratio. large, long high aspect wings (13/1+) were also the rage, as much as 4M and more. The planes did fly very well in dead calm conditions as long as you didn't overstress them. There was a problem tho' they didn't fly up-wind well, if at all making spot landings almost impossable. as most contests were (and are) won in the landing circle because of the much higher number of landing points to flight time points, It didn't matter very much how well you did as to time if you could nail the landing. In the late 70's some guys got wise to this and started to build planes with higer wing-loadings and shorter wings to lower drag, both to increase penatration into the wind. If there was anykind of wind these guys won. The 'floaters' couldn't compete and converted to the 'lead sleds'. Another arguement for the lead-sledders was that they flew faster, allowing them to cover more sky: increasing their chance of finding lift.
The thing was/is that these planes fly fast except when going into a stiff wind, they don't like (can't) go slow unless you start to add flaps and start wondering how much and when. flaperons, spoilerons, multi ch mixing, expensive computer radios to do it. Spending hours you could be flying trying to learn how to program the radio , spending more time between flights 'tweaking' the mixs than flying the plane and when flying thinking more about futher 'tweaks' than enjoying the flight . . . Where did the fun go? What happend to the simple fun contests. As in everyother sport, there are those who have the money and willing to 'buy' their wins, the other guys either pony up or just quit competing.
Back to the future: Enter NOS and RES competition, the rules make it imposible to out spend or out tech everyone (so far) in NOS Comp. The three control surface requirement of RES also tends to keep costs low. Both also tend to keep speeds down. When I thermal I like to go slow, if I want to go fast I'll go sloping. After thinking about it, I'd go ahead and get the 'Renny'
Rick
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PLEASE help me find a good thermal ship?? - 
