RE: Northstar mods - Tell me what you think
Hi,
I posted a couple of photos on another "Northstar Mods" thread. I'll stick them in again on this one.
I based my model on the Northstar (of which I've had 3 over the years, all built by other people and fantastic fun). I made up my own structure, changed the wing section, the span, the fuselage section, made the tail removable, I lengthened the nose, added a cockpit with pilot and all flying canards (and gave it the name Lochstar as it is a bit different).
The canards are pivoted at about 20-22% of their MAC and have their own servo. They go about 7 degrees each way for pitch control (mixed as slave to elevator) and about 50 degrees LE up for airbrake (see photos). Airbrake is not strickly needed, but handy in calm weather for steepening the approach and reducing float.
The canards add a little to the pitch control, but I did it mainly for the looks and the airbrake experiment. Using the ailerons as elevons makes a bigger difference to the pitch response and I definately recommend that. The airbrake experiment was for a future jet powered project in which airbrakes will be very necessary, and the usual options are unsuitable for a delta wing flying boat.