I added the fuselage fences and went testing today. First thing I noticed was no change in pitch trim, probably because they are aligned with the local airflow around the turtle deck and belly pan.

The improvement in horizontal KE was nothing short of spectacular. My model always needed some visible fuselage incidence in KE flight (very similar to the Integral in that aspect), but with the fuselage fences on, the fuselage angle in KE was now close to 0, looks almost parallel to the ground.
To be honest I’m not crazy about the looks of the fuselage fences, so before testing them I was just looking for a reason to take them off, but now it looks like I have to keep them.

The video recordings confirmed my impressions; the fences stop the air leaking over the turtle deck and belly pan from the high pressure side to the low pressure side, making the fuselage much more efficient in KE flight. The tufts are barely moving during transitions from horizontal to KE.

Even more performance can be found by extending the fences forward on the canopy at the top and up to the cowl on the bottom, but I’m not sure I’ll have the time for it. We have our national contest coming up in October, so I’ll need some time for training.

Left rudder knife edge (horizontal and loop):



Right rudder knife edge (horizontal and loop):