scubyfan

Hi,

A long time ago, I bought an electric plane from one of those Fingerhut-type catalogs to fly. It was grossly underpowered and didn't fly. I put in my .049 glow engine and still didn't fly; it must have been the weight of the plane. Anyway, the other day I found the fuselage and am thinking about giving it new life. It is made of some kind of foam/plastic and seems durable, but most of all, it's light. I couldn't find the wing, so I have to build one. All the weight was due to the engine/battery pack/receiver/other electronics.

Now, I don't know what size to make the wing. The original foam wing was held in place with rubber bands (this is a wing-on-top plane, like the Cessna). The "chord" from just looking on top of the fuselage is about 7 inches; the length of the fuselage is ~24 inches.

My question: what kind of wingspan should I aim for? I don't have the original specs, but am thinking around 28-30 inches. Scale is unimportant to me, but functionality is not. I figure that should give it a wing area of about 196-210 square inches. What are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Tall Paul

Try a 36" span... that's more suited to a 7 inch chord.

scubyfan

But for a 24 inch long fuse, that seems an awful lot. []

Not only would it be funky-lookin', but would it even be practical? Wouldn't a smaller size (like 28) be more reasonable? I'm asking you guys, as I have no clue!

FHHuber

Love it... ask for advice... shoot the advisor.

Any span from appx 23 inches to 48 inches might be appropriate on a plane with a 24 inch fuselage. It depends on the style of the arcraft.

For the same basic proportions as a Cessna, you'd want appx 28 to 30 inch span.

To ge theplane to fly better since its underpowered... I'd go with Paul's recommended 36inches. More wing means it can fly better on low power.

Go to the www.towerhobbies.com website. Search for the Butterfly by Dynaflite. look at those proportions. its a VERY slow flying model. Fuselage is about the size used typically on a .40 size trainer. The wing is almost 60% latrger. It flys well using a .15 size engine.

scubyfan

No one "shot" Paul: I was just concerned that it would be too large. Sorry for being a little concerned.

Can I compensate for a smaller wing (about 28") with a larger engine, say around .40-60? The model you referred me to looks more like a sailplane than an airplane, and definitely not what I'm after.

Tall Paul

You do realize there's a slight size difference between an .049 and a .40?
Your .049 plane with a .40... couldn't possibly work, it would get torn apart.
If you want a flier, then make the wing large. Area is not a handicap.
28" or 36".. whatever. A 7 inch chord on a 28" span will look like a Hershey bar.
The 7 x36 would look more reasonable as appearance is apparently important.
I've flown any number of planes with wings too "small" and too "large", and find that larger flies better.

scubyfan

Oh, of course. But this isn't a .049 plane: it's an underpowered electric of unknown size that never flew. It was tried with a .049, but that didn't give it enough oomph. That Hershey bar comment is interesting: I may just paint the entire plane in that theme!

I will not buy an engine yet and will wait to get the final weight of the plane, sans engine/fuel. I will them come back and ask you guys for a recommendation!

Tall Paul

Why not toss the old stuff and get something that does work, with all the parts that are recommended for it?
Working with a sow's ear as you are, you'll merely end up with a newer sow's ear.

scubyfan

I did actually consider that, hence my other thread about the Lanier Explorer. I'm not very confident in my skills, anyway, but I definitely want to see this plane fly, even if later.

Tall Paul

When you get some scratch building experience, you can always come back to this one, but there's too many unknowns to make it a practical project right now.

scubyfan

I've scratch built a few 1/2 CL planes, though!

Still deciding. Thanks for all your help! [8D]