Bryan,
Both you and I were at this game when the models were so small that the equipment nearly did not fit inside them.
You may even remember the pipes on the outside and then the first 4 stroke motors hanging out of the front.
As with all things the models have been 'evolving' all the while and this evolution really took off with the advent of the 5Kg/unlimited engine rule - a bit like the evolution of life here really took off straight after the Snowball Earth phase
.
Anyway the models started getting much bigger and continue to do so right up to this day.
They are so big now that it is very likely that one could take all the radio gear out of all the models at any local comp,, and chuck the lot of it into one Fuz,, and not even fill the thing
.
Also we have had the relatively recent advent and development of electrics in F3A.
However the majority of the model 'design evolution' that happened has happened around the glow installation NB
. Of course this is mostly driven by the top pilots and an occasional designer
, but not entirely.
So at all times, right up till now, the best and most current designs were/are subtle evolutions of those from immediately before them, which were also subtle evolutions of those before them - and so on.
As I said already this has been, for the most part, around glow.
This has resulted in models that are as good as they can be, at any given moment in time, in every regard ; Finish, weight, size, form, wing area, tail area, fin/rudder area, power, noise, CG, etc etc etc .
This includes, for glow models which have driven just about all the development till 'now', inverted engines c/w exhausts, thrust line, wing position, wing height and 'vertical CG'.
None of what we have now just magically appeared - it evolved, bit by bit by bit. Aesthetics lurk in the background all the while also and are a minor driver of form.
Now however we find ourselves with two new kids on the block ;
- Electrics (including contras) c/w their big battery packs.
- Enormous, cavernous, very deep and quite wide Fuz's.
To the first part of your question;
Firstly I would not describe this as 'a method'.
It is, or can be, an extra/new adjustment that we can use - if we wish - all be it within a small range (I'll post separately re this)
About 6 or 7 years ago both Niall and I were preparing two new Prolines.
These were made for glow but we were putting Pletty's in them.
To save weight we were removing, completely, the canopy floors (net saving 60g - still remember that also). We had arranged for the canopies to be packed loose.
At that moment we could have fitted the canopies as removable and put the packs inside or we had the option of under-slinging them in the belly pan (one piece wing etc).
As we discussed this I passed the following comment to Niall ;
' We're going to have to start thinking about where to install all the stuff in these things - they're huge from top to bottom '
There was only a rudder servo, receiver and a mini lipo in the area above the wing when we finished - it looked lost.
Anyway I checked the vertical CG with the pack in both places (inside and/or under-slung) and with the pack under-slung the CG was 6mm above the wing centreline at the root - happy days
.
So we moulded c/f trays and mounted them there.
That was the first time I made a conscious choice that affected the CG vertically.
I did the same test with a pair of Zeque's.
Then came the bipes, 3 so far and I found these were best with the pack as high in the Fuz as I could get them.
The last two have the radio tray as high as I could get it as well - it's the best rolling model I've ever had.
Verticals are dead straight (no mix
) under power.
I moved the battery tray up and back in the first few days of flying these, or in the case of the last one installed it high to begin with.
So ; 1 Yes and 2 No
Talk later.
Brian