RE: Seeker wing build  
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> Composites Fabrication And Repair >> RE: Seeker wing build
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RE: Seeker wing build - 1/15/2008 11:03:25 PM   
wkevinm


 

Posts: 141
Joined: 9/17/2004
From: Sherwood Park, AB, CANADA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: j.m.

i would suggest you use some of the construction techniques used on DLG's (discuss launch gliders) Instead of getting the wing to be 16 ounces, they get their whole craft under 16. Try taking a foam wing with a single carbon spar that is visible on both the top and bottom of the wing, and then coat this in a single layer of fiber glass. It will be much stronger and lighter than you think. To loose even more weight, you can then melt out the foam from inside it with acetone. (if wont hurt the fiberglass at all.) Then finally sand the fiberglass to make it smooth, and don't even bother with covering it.

Here's an example of a DLG:
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=6214

If you use really thin fiberglass, then you can do a couple of layers. Remember, go light on the epoxy. If you need to, yiu can warm your epoxy in your hands to make it more viscous.



JM

In response to your comments, I have thought about eliminating balsa but have elected to stay with it since balsa is very easy to work with and given it’s strength to weight ratio is superior to regular fibreglass, perhaps not some of the more exotic light weight materials such as carbon fibre and the like, but good strength for the $. Balsa on the other hand has inferior dent resistance and becomes tattered after regular use and for this reason I like to glass balsa airplanes, they are then more dent resistant, clean up easier, and in my mind have less drag, but you need to minimize the use of resin and glass or the weight creep will be a problem. As well there is a minimum weight limitation for this class of airplane, that being 3.5lbs in Canada, 3.75 lbs in America.

I have seen some of the threads and building techniques used for the glider community and they are very impressive, many apply to pylon racing and in fact are used in the manufacture of some very high quality composite racing airplanes such as the Canadian built Q500 Neme-Q and Q40 Miss Candace and others from the US and the world.

Racing airplanes put demands on material selection that is not the same for all types of airplanes. That being high stresses caused by handling … just starting an airplane up with a high torque starter motor; high vibration from powerful engines, high Gs experienced in cornering and corrective manoeuvres, landing stresses…in my case the cause of many airframe failures. I know gliders have their own set of challenges in design, but they are different and require in some cases different solutions.

To bring a long winded response to you comment to an end, I do not think all of the methods employed in the example you’ve given would apply to this class of airplane, and achieving a weight of 3.5 lbs for this type of airplane is a challenge.

(in reply to j.m.)
       Post #: 26

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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> Composites Fabrication And Repair >> RE: Seeker wing build
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