Hey Guys, why do pattern planes have the canopy so far foreward?Aerobatic show planes all have the canopy way-back by the T.E. They are both very smooth and can do all the same manuvers I think-could be wrong here,but is it a DRAG thing or something???

That's for knife-edge flight, I believe. With the airplane on its side, the fuselage becomes a "wing" ... more "wing" area ahead of the CG means the rudder can more easily pitch the front end up, and the airplane won't sink into the sunset as quickly.

Full-scale airplanes might make use of this fact, except there's a real pilot in there and he/she can't fit above the engine compartment. Also, full-scale airplanes need to have the pilot positioned very near the CG, so different-sized pilots don't cause big changes in balance.

See, we modelers have it easy!

DHG,thanks for the reply!I understand the fus becomes a wing when in the K.E> position,however,if you use a little longer tail-moment and a powerfull rudder-would'nt you get to the same place?The smoothist planes in flight are IMHO gliders.They will not knife-edge under about 100 MPH (RC's that is),but if you made the fus taller ,eventually you would have a glider that would do the manuver as good as a pattern plane?It must be that pattern planes are designed to be relatively easy to do the knife-edge.

c-grain,

Yup, any airplane can be made to knife-edge, it's just easier with a taller fuse and a canopy up front.

Some of the new 3D models have a new feature, vertical fins on the wing ("side-force generators", I think they're called) for the same reason.

Hey, thanks for the tips on flapped airfoils, & the pix of your other original designs ... you're definitely thinking outside the box. Cool!

Lots of pattern guys use rear exhaust engines, and run the header & tuned pipe through the fuselage, and the forward canopy allows the interior space at the rear of the engine to accomodate the header. Wolfgang Matt or Hanno Pretner started using this method in the early seventies, I think.