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Ron S -> RE: Help with F-14's (5/2/2008 8:54:43 PM)
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Ravill, I haven't built an F-14 (those that have built and flown one, please stand up! [)] ), but one thing you may want to consider is design the pitch/roll system with a rolling tail. Then, mix your aileron type control surfaces into the rolling tail for roll only. I have done this with my 14MZ, because I was not sure how my wing-mounted roll control devices (spoiler-slot-deflectors) were going to work on my recenty project. When you are happy with your roll control, you just modify the mix amounts to adjust what may need changing. There are a lot of neat things that can be done with the new radios out there. If I wanted to address the wing sweep issue, this would be my first thought: Assuming the model is trimmed for normal flight with the wings forward, sweeping the wings aft will move the aerodynamic center aft. Not having flown an F-14 model before (another reminder! [)] ) I think we can predict the model will now be nose heavy (certainly more so than with wings fwd), and you will most likely need stabilator up trim, and the model will most likely feel sluggish in pitch. Certainly adding stab up trim would be an easy thing to accomplish as a function of wing sweep. I have heard of people adding weight to the wingtips in an effort to "automatically" move the CG slightly more aft as the wing sweeps aft. I think it's a clever idea, but I wouldn't like the idea of adding dead weight to the wingtips, and can't comment how effective it is. What I would consider though, is using the swing mechanism to perhaps move something heavy that has purpose (ie, battery packs) fwd/aft as the wings sweep. How much weight and distance to be moved will depend too much on the specifics of the model - that would be my consideration though. Lastly, if I were doing this, I'd consider flying the model initially with wings fwd. Once you get to the point where you are happy with it's flight characteristics, limit your wing sweep amounts initially and "creep" up to the eventual full sweep angle. Reason should be obvious - if you have a problem at the 45 degree sweep angle with balance, the amount of adjustments necessary will be less than going full bore to the 65 degree max sweep angle (or whatever max sweep is). I'd like to work on a project like that, but I haven't developed any interest in flying a twin yet. I've been kicking around doing a Backfire bomber at some point, and setting it up as a single turbine. Too many other projects to decide upon, though. [8D]
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