RCU Forums - View Single Post - .65 "sport speed" - the doodling has begun.
Old 01-16-2009, 08:17 PM
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HighPlains
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Default RE: .65 "sport speed" - the doodling has begun.

Absolute accuracy of the airfoil is not all that critical. Avoiding flat spots and waves is. Front third to 1/2 of the wing surface important. Behind that, not so much. Last third of most airfoils completely turbulent at the low speeds/Reynolds numbers that model fly at. Knowing how to sand, and observe shadows from point source of light all that is required. Leading edge radius and location very critical over the span of the wing. Make and use a template.

You don't have to have an elliptical wing planform to achieve an elliptical lift distribution - at one angle of attack. Otherwise, it does help.

The classic elliptical wing planform is not the lowest drag configuration. The Crescent shaped wing drag is about 3% better. This has the elliptical area distribution, but helps reduce tip vortexes. A good approximation was done on the Nemesis.