Grace
12-01-2006, 02:11 PM
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Grace
I've been working on this one and finally ready to let it loose. This is the one I would like to offer as a postal plane to be passed around to as many guys as who want to fly it and just have fun (another thread). It's made to be simple to construct, rugged, and easy to fly. Its a two channel R/E design so complexity is a minimum and uses a Jedelsky airfoil made from solid wood so it can really take a pounding.
Specs:
Weight 13.5oz
Wing Area 153 sq in
Span 28", Chord 5.75"
Power 049 with 6x3
Building - It builds quickly and in two evenings you should have it ready to cover. The wing requires some hand shaping of the leading edge and a little balsa taken off the top. This is best done with a small hand-plane but can be completed with sand paper if needed. The wing actually builds much quicker than stick and rib construction.
Flight - Its a little quick to be a trainer but a person with a little experience should have no problem. Hand launches are level and it climbs out immediately. The 049 provides enough power for moderate climbs, and nice consecutive loops. Rolls are not axial due to the dihedral setup but are nice and tight and controllable. Inverted flight is not easy and it makes you work to maintain it. It has more speed than I expected in level flight and low passes are sporty. Hard manuvering causes speed to fall off if it is pushed but regains it quickly at level flight. It does right itself fairly quickly with hands off the stick, and stalls are gentle and straight forward with plenty of warning. I couldn't get it to tip stall. With power off it slows way down and with a little up elevator you can circle the field at least once before landing at a jogging speed. The shortish span handles wind quite well and even though it was gusty during test flights, it never had a problem.
I'll have the plans available on my website after I convert them to PDF if anyone is interested.
Specs:
Weight 13.5oz
Wing Area 153 sq in
Span 28", Chord 5.75"
Power 049 with 6x3
Building - It builds quickly and in two evenings you should have it ready to cover. The wing requires some hand shaping of the leading edge and a little balsa taken off the top. This is best done with a small hand-plane but can be completed with sand paper if needed. The wing actually builds much quicker than stick and rib construction.
Flight - Its a little quick to be a trainer but a person with a little experience should have no problem. Hand launches are level and it climbs out immediately. The 049 provides enough power for moderate climbs, and nice consecutive loops. Rolls are not axial due to the dihedral setup but are nice and tight and controllable. Inverted flight is not easy and it makes you work to maintain it. It has more speed than I expected in level flight and low passes are sporty. Hard manuvering causes speed to fall off if it is pushed but regains it quickly at level flight. It does right itself fairly quickly with hands off the stick, and stalls are gentle and straight forward with plenty of warning. I couldn't get it to tip stall. With power off it slows way down and with a little up elevator you can circle the field at least once before landing at a jogging speed. The shortish span handles wind quite well and even though it was gusty during test flights, it never had a problem.
I'll have the plans available on my website after I convert them to PDF if anyone is interested.
12-02-2006, 09:18 AM
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RE: Grace
You shore do build them pretty planes!
There are two main things I like about your design. First is the Jedelski airfoil which means a strong, draggy, stable wing. Second is the plane is all wood which means no film covering (oops, or tissue) which means it would be easy to maintain/clean with a diesel up front. Hmmmm.
There are two main things I like about your design. First is the Jedelski airfoil which means a strong, draggy, stable wing. Second is the plane is all wood which means no film covering (oops, or tissue) which means it would be easy to maintain/clean with a diesel up front. Hmmmm.
12-10-2006, 10:02 AM
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RE: Grace
I got a chance to fly Grace yesterday and thought you might like to see how we have fun in Minnesota in December.
http://www.rcuvideos.com/view_video....837374f04396c0
http://www.rcuvideos.com/view_video....837374f04396c0
12-10-2006, 06:39 PM
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RE: Grace
Larry,
She was using a JVC GR-D270U (had to look it up) - just a simple digital cam. Although she's 10 and never ran a cam before, I think she did ok. It was really hard to spot a white plane against a white sky she said.
As you can see my hand launch almost ended up drilling my own fishing hole.... a combination of a headwind, up elevator on launch and, not throwing it level.
I'm not going to post any build pics for the fuselage because its just a simple slab sided box fuse. But here are a few pics on the jedelsky wing for those who haven't built one before. I was able to whip one out start to finish in two hours which is pretty good considering that included allowing the epoxy to cure between the two sections. Also the shaping sounds intimidating but its really kept to a minimum and pretty hard to mess up. With a little hand plane it went FAST. On the down side I did pick the best wood I could find at the LHS and the uncovered wing came in at 2 5/8 oz. Its the trade off for simplicity and durability I guess.
She was using a JVC GR-D270U (had to look it up) - just a simple digital cam. Although she's 10 and never ran a cam before, I think she did ok. It was really hard to spot a white plane against a white sky she said.
As you can see my hand launch almost ended up drilling my own fishing hole.... a combination of a headwind, up elevator on launch and, not throwing it level.
I'm not going to post any build pics for the fuselage because its just a simple slab sided box fuse. But here are a few pics on the jedelsky wing for those who haven't built one before. I was able to whip one out start to finish in two hours which is pretty good considering that included allowing the epoxy to cure between the two sections. Also the shaping sounds intimidating but its really kept to a minimum and pretty hard to mess up. With a little hand plane it went FAST. On the down side I did pick the best wood I could find at the LHS and the uncovered wing came in at 2 5/8 oz. Its the trade off for simplicity and durability I guess.
12-10-2006, 08:08 PM
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RE: Grace
I built a TopCat sailplane using this type of wing, love the eaze of building. This one picture shows the note the Designer wrote about doing the tips, works great, no tip stalling.
.
12-19-2006, 08:49 PM
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RE: Grace
That was a great little video!
I've bumped this project up to the head office to see if we can get a bit of swag for difluggeister like stickers for the model and maybe opening a subforum off this one to follow the convoluted exploits of the GRACE on it's doglegged journey around the world.
After all, anyone that would fly at all, let alone a glow powered model, in those conditions needs OUR HELP! OK, so this maybe isn't the sort of help he really needs but it's a start...
I've bumped this project up to the head office to see if we can get a bit of swag for difluggeister like stickers for the model and maybe opening a subforum off this one to follow the convoluted exploits of the GRACE on it's doglegged journey around the world.
After all, anyone that would fly at all, let alone a glow powered model, in those conditions needs OUR HELP! OK, so this maybe isn't the sort of help he really needs but it's a start...
01-12-2011, 08:39 AM
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RE: Grace
UPDATE - I see the RCU Video link is broken and they will not accept any more uploads. Here is a link to the video posted on the TUBE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhmbTK9fhE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhmbTK9fhE
01-12-2011, 08:47 AM
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01-12-2011, 01:57 PM
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RE: Grace
Wow. Has it really been (only) three years? I recall when I flew it with some of the Carolina 1/2A Crew in Burlington then. Good design.
01-13-2011, 11:34 AM
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RE: Grace
Mike, any chance of upgrading the plans by posting a DWG or PDF version to this thread instead of just that image? RCU is now able to accept more options than it used to. If you upload a DWG just change the extension to ".txt" and we can change it back. If you need some help converting a cad file to PDF send it to me and I can do that for you.
Also when I get a free moment I'm going to CAD up a built up wing option. Something with a flat bottom or optional semi symetrical airfoil that will allow Grace to fly inverted easier.
Also when I get a free moment I'm going to CAD up a built up wing option. Something with a flat bottom or optional semi symetrical airfoil that will allow Grace to fly inverted easier.