ORIGINAL: Lnewqban
ORIGINAL: abufletcher
The Clark Y is appealing thanks to.............. its near-horizontal lower surface, which aids in the accurate construction of wings on plans mounted on a flat construction board.......
I would say that easiness of construction due to the flat bottom surface is the only reason of the popularity of the Clark-Y airfoil for model airplanes.
With the power to weight ratio of our models, even a brick flies; for high performance sailplanes, more sophisticated airfoils are better.
According to the late Andy Lennon, the Eppler 193, used in powered models, is superior and more suitable for our low Re's:
http://library.propdesigner.co.uk/ht...teristics.html
It would seem that extreme accuracy in construction is needed as well to utilize the shapes and realize the performance gain. Hence, vacuum bagged foam cores or hollow molded composite construction. Certainly not an undertaking seen here. (with ww 1)