RCU Forums - View Single Post - post some pictures of your pattern plane!!
Old 11-08-2010 | 11:09 PM
  #765  
MTK
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From: Whippany, NJ
Default RE: post some pictures of your pattern plane!!


ORIGINAL: MTK


ORIGINAL: edwarda10pilot

MattK:

I really like the looks of your plane. Is it an original design? If so what is the construction material? Composite fuse or balsa built up? Foam wings or composite or built up? etc. If you posted it elsewhere and I missed it, I apologize.

Ed
Thank you. It's an original design.

The fuselage started out as a Brio fuselage that has a glass foam sandwich construction. Not the best combination of materials. I found the combo extremely easy to dent and ding. A glass balsa sandwich is far superior and would weigh less. I found I need to reinforce the fuse in many places.

Anyway, I removed the Dumbo ears, changed where the wing was located to suit my needs, changed the fin's shape to improve its looks and added a subfin to the fin to improve knife edge handling. Changed how the landing gear are installed and secured to lighten the original Brio set-up and make it far easier to install. This new method is worth a closer look and I will try to show it in a different thread. If I get the energy to do it , that is.

Wings, stab and rudder are original designs. The canards too
Oh yeah I forgot that I added 4 degrees of anhedral to the stab. My calculations fell about half degree short at the increased wing dihedral that this much stab anhedral requires to fully counter. There is a very slight adverse roll couple on knife flight. It takes about 2% proverse roll mix (right rudder=right aileron) to fly straight KE.

Not really wanting to build a new wing, I can eliminate the roll mix by adding wing tip appendages, angled to add dihedral, or add a small cannibalizer to the canopy with dihedral on the sub wing. If anything, it will improve knife edge character. Have not yet decided which way to do it.

Actually have not completely rulled out a new wing. The current wing may yet prove too thick a section for my taste. On the other hand the plane has no problem penetrating even in 25 mph wind which is the condition I flew the maiden flights in. The first flight ended in a dead stick in the wrong place which required considerable drag to land