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Old 09-20-2008 | 07:17 PM
  #13  
da Rock
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From: Near Pfafftown NC
Default RE: AOA and speed


ORIGINAL: skyjockey

Please bear with me. I am trying to get a grasp of what can be preserved and what must be changed when scaling down any airplane. DO things like : thrust line; CG location; CD location; CL location; decalage; tail moments; things like that. As a wing section is scaled down, say a Clark Y of 5' chord down, do the RNs change liniarly or exponentialy? Can you say there is a direct or inverse relationship of that curve to those components that must be changed? I have a feeling there are too many interrelationships to attempt to make it simple.

You can get a really good grasp by studying scale models that have been made for competition. For the most part, scale models fly fairly well. They do not fly with the same characteristics as their fullscale counterparts because as mentioned earlier, wing and power loading cannot possibly be duplicated. They do fly but pretty much as any other model that has the same areas and power and weight would. What has proven to be a predictable characteristic is that when the models are truly "model size", not say a 30% for example, is that pitch stability suffers. It's been an accepted situation since forever, that a scale size horizontal tail may need to be enlarged. Most scale builders do not wish to lengthen the aft fuselage when increasing tail area will do the same. It's easier to spot a disproportionately long fuselage than a tail that's been enlarged a little.

For years, it has been fairly common to read the build article for a scale model that mentions that the designer increased the tail area 15% "so it will fly safely". No other special considerations have been identified as needed by our models. Moreover, it's an absolutely safe practice to work out incidences and moments with the identical formulas that the aeronautic industry uses when designing a model. You see exactly that at http://www.geistware.com/rcmodeling/cg_super_calc.htm That is an application for modelers that is based entirely on the same science used by the aero industry. It works for them and works for us.