ORIGINAL: wsmalley
Some pics of the 'first cut' of the LE flaps. In spite of much discussion regarding the pros and cons, I decided to go ahead and try them. All the film of the 27 I've seen shows the LE flaps in the lowered position, including the 'Cobra'. I guess flat out, they are retracted, but every other maneuver shows them down. I haven't figured out the linkage system yet, but thats next. Interestly enough they make an arc moving downward which is why the full sized flaps are curved on the ends. I did not forsee that!
Very cool.
I had thought about using these from time to time and have even come up with off-the-shelf solutions which would allow the LE flaps to be mixed into elevator and would still droop when the trailing edge flaperons to be used.
It's basically a series of "Y" cables and on-board elevon/flaperon mixer used in conjunction with the transmitter flaperon that will allow this type of action.
If you're interested, I can draw up a schematic that better describes how it's wired. The linkage is fairly straight-forward as it just requires a servo per control surface.
Keep up the good work! You should be flying in no time.
Dan