Box PLane
 

Hi guys. This is my first time posting here. So let me introduce myself alittle. Im a student in Singapore, very interested into flying hobby but still novice. Coincidently & fortunately, I have been given a project about it too.

I need to design an airframe thats small(within 20" wing span) & still a slo-flyer. I have thought up of a few designs but not such how feasible are they. One of which is attached here. I have gotten the idea from [link=http://www.aero-space.nasa.gov/docs/ar00/]here[/link].

Its a combination of swept-forward & swept-backward wings. Im thinking of using foam to build this. What do you guys think?

I welcome any commments & help here Please. Thanks in Advance.

RE: Box PLane
 

The format has been done before but I don't recall the exact name for the style.

However how much of a slowflyer it is will be determined by the usual factors. How light can you make it and how much wing area can you build into the model. Wingloading is the key. The lower the wingloading the slower the flight.

RE: Box PLane
 

Cool.. :D Glad to hear that this design has been done before. Isit possible if you can direct me there? Maybe a vague description to help me search.

Does anybody else recall about this design existence?

Thanks!

RE: Box PLane
 

Here's one.
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Education/E...ies/ADJWA.html

RE: Box PLane
 

There was one published in Aeromodeller some years ago. I think I have a copy of the plans. I' check and let you know. There is another design called the Duo-Monoplane. Try a search for that. I have a magazine article about it out in the shop. There have been a couple of them published for RC.

RE: Box PLane
 

There's a couple variations on this foam free-flight... It kinda flys, but is very fragile.. It would probably fly OK with r/c.

RE: Box PLane
 

There's been some very pretty looking concepts done using the joined wing style but a quick google search didn't really find them. I also found that the style is reffered to as a box wing like you used but I always thought of a box wing as more like a biplane with full tip panels much like the Santo Dumont canard biplane.

Anyhow, I did find some sites with the term "joined wing" so there's info out there. In the meantime there's no reason that you can't get your own design tests running. Make some models out of sheet balsa as simple test gliders to experiment with stability and CG placement and have fun with it.

A lot of a normal airplane's drag comes from the energy taken to form the vortices at the wingtips. The joined wing idea, if done well, may be one answer to limiting this loss. Some variations would certainly be fun to play with.

RE: Box PLane
 

Take a look at paper airplane sites. These airplanes are constrained in size and wing area and there are some that fly very well as gliders. Might get an idea for a slow flier.

RE: Box PLane
 

Some years ago I requested similar info from NASA on a design they were researching to replace the Navy's Grumman E2B Hawkeye carrier-based radar plane. I think, if I remember correctly, The full scale aircraft was to use phased array radar and other sensors embedded in the leading and trailing edges of the the wings. I was fortunate enough to receive a 8.5X11 inch 3-view line drawing of the aircraft, but nothing specific. It was supposed to turn out as my scratch-built project but due to personal constraints, the project literally didn't get off the ground. If I can locate that drawing, I'll post it here. That is if my ex-wife didn't chuck it along with a lot of my other airplane stuff. No wonder I gave her the walkin' papers! LOL Later! Dave

RE: Box PLane
 

Fabrication of this plane is going to be a tedious task. Imagine Four wings to wire-cut.They are tapered & further more they are swept forward & back. Its a headache to do the claculations already. Hahaha..

But this plane is definitely an attention grabber. The full-scale plane too. Its suppose to be 70m span & 36m length or isit the other way round? Anyways, its going to be a huge plane & able to travel sub-sonic speed. Cool!

RE: Box PLane
 

Ken Willard designed a model with a rhomboid wing in the early 70's. It's one of the RCM plans. Don't remember the model name or exact year/month, but a search of the RCM plans should find it.

Edit: I tried posting the links, but they didn't post correctly, and would not go to the correct page. Just select the 'Sport' category and then do a search for Ken Willard. You'll find the two planes.

RE: Box PLane
 

A Horton lifting body would be a lot simpler to make. http://www.roadabletimes.com/roadabl...eg_horton.html