RE: Good Reading?
 

Has anyone mentioned Soartech 8 yet?

This is the book where the complete details of the original Selig work was described along with a lot of the thought processes in what makes for good airfoil design for our model applications. Along with a little of the approached used in the theory there's a wealth of information about the level of accuracy and how it affects the real world vs theoretical results along with the impact of turbulence on the airfoils and the performance of both turbulators and flaps. Even when you read about the issues they had with the tunnel walls and the efforts they went through to assure smooth air it's a comment on how we need to approach the way our models fly.

And although it's not a book per se Xfoil is the perfect companion. With it you can design and test your own airfoils looking for issues in the pressure distribution at various lift coefficients and reynolds numbers. And likely the best interface to that is to download and purchase the unlocking code for Profili2 to access the Xfoil plugin. The user interface makes it easier to use than the command line open source version.

RE: Good Reading?
 

Is it a book or research papers?

By Selig?

(time to try a Google, ain't it)


OK.... Googled it.............. Here is the whole ball of wax:

http://www.soartech-aero.com/index.html

RE: Good Reading?
 

And that led to a very large resource of model publications.

Click on the button on the left of the page that is labeled: Book Hangar.

http://www.flying-models.com/

RE: Good Reading?
 

I have a copy of Charles Grant's "Model Airplane Design, Theory of Flight" c.1942, which covers all that's involved in free-flight from the classical era- a major analysis of the principles of stability, design of the various types from indoor to gas, a large section on designing and carving propellers for various uses, etc.. Not particularly useful for modern types, but it has helped me understand why things go wrong.

RE: Good Reading?
 

I knew they had one more book come out and I even think i may have it as well. I didn't realize they had two more.

There was also a good book on model sized sailplane design by Eric Lister. A highly pragmatic approach using a little math and a lot of examples for ensuring efficiency and stability. Dick would like it because it's got a lot of real world compromises in it... :D

That real world stuff is also why I highly recomend the orginal Selig report of Soartech 8. It helps us to not only appreciate the theory but also to see how little or much distortion turns the theory into something resembling that old saw about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

I see that the old David Fraser program is still available. I know it's not a book but it's a valuable resource. That was a superb program for analysing an airframe, ANY airframe, not just sailplanes. Along with expected sink speeds and best lift/drag calculations it also produced charts of the wing's and stabilizer's lift coefficients as the model moves through the speed range. VERY informative. And as I said you can use a lot of what it tells you for sport power models as well as the sailplanes. Probably of minimal intrest to hot 3D designs but something like a heavy lift model or a camera plane or any other such design. A buddy gave me is copy when he got out of the hobby years ago when him and I were running it on his TRS80 and me on one of the original 286 computers I had. I can only imagine how fast it'll be now. It used to take about 5 minutes to draw a chart with lots of comparisons on it..... :D

RE: Good Reading?
 

I'm currently wanting to do high-performance pattern ships so right now I'm only interested in polars for the symmetrical stuff. I started doing a bit of digging myself. The "Soartech" website has specific detail about which profiles were tested in each volume which will save me a lot of money! Most of the work is geared toward soaring but in the last Volume (V3) they got jiggy and started testing Goldberg Ultimate's, UltraSport 2000's and lots of other popular powered R/C airfoils. Way cool.

Before I pay for the Profili2 upgrade, is there any symmetrical airfoil polar data available in the Xfoil plug-in?

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR MAKING THIS A GREAT THREAD!!!!

RE: Good Reading?
 

Xfoil will generate the lift drag curves and lift to angle of attack curves from any shape you can form using coordinates that can be plugged into the airfoil library. So that means you could input a shovel shape and analyze that if you so wish. The freeware version doesn't let you do that but the unlock code you buy opens up that ability.

So this means you've got a good 30 to 40 symetrical airfoils in the library as it comes and can modify those or import any others that you can find the coordinates for and shape the file structure to be adaptable for Profili.

RE: Good Reading?
 

Understanding Flight, by David F. Anderson and Scott Eberhardt - observation and logic, many real world examples to back up theory, not much math. Emphasis on Newton.[X(]

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-.../dp/0071363777

RE: Good Reading?
 

I would add two more books to the list. The first is Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators from ASA-ANA. It looks like a xerox copy of 1960's Naval Aviators training manual on aerodynamics but if you want to understand aspect ratios, wing plan forms, how to land an RC jet, how a jet engine works, or why super sonic aircraft don't land well at slow speeds this is a fantastic book. My understanding of jet aircraft design and function is dramatically improved.

The other good one is Principles of Helicopter Flight also from ASA. It explains how helicopters fly. It covers a number of points of transitional lift that make helicopter flight make a lot more sence. It reviews vortex ring state, autos, wind, landing, taking off, it is really helpful if you want to understand how helicopters are supposed to and occasionally don't fly.

These two texts are more interesting and easier to read than the theory of wing sections.


edited to make the book titles BOLD

RE: Good Reading?
 

Lol..

Someone has discovered my secret!!

I have designed, and built mosly my own planes since I was in Control-line in the mid sixties..progressing through FF (late 60's)and RC(early 70's) and it was more tounge in cheek. Yes, there were quite a few bashed handlaunch gliders that simply did not fly well, But that was what "keeping a proto cheap" was all about. Guess and test! I saved my trig and calculus for the Model rocket predictions.

RE: Good Reading?
 

hai,
Im working on air-craft gyroscope.I coudnt get any clear view of the components of it .Can you help me out ?
Please tell me about the components of the system.
bye.

RE: Good Reading?
 

Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Chapters 3, 4 and 9 can be especially informative and can be applied to most model aircraft. Don't bother with the chapters on weather or navigation and such unless you have an interest. Best part is that its free.

http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/a...ilot_handbook/

RE: Good Reading?
 

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~akmit...foil_usage.htm

Link to a list of which aerofoils are used on full size aircraft.

Good for scale modellers...

RE: Good Reading?
 

I am surprised (and disappointed) that nobody has mentioned this book yet, published in the UK by Traplet Publications (who do magazines:- R/C Model World, R/C Jet International, Quiet and Electric Flight etc.)
Is it a problem that we Brits spell colour differently?

RE: Good Reading?
 

Disappointed? That you Brits haven't posted about your book? Your books and magazines aren't widely available over here.

Do you know of a retailer for that book? I just did a Google, and then a look in Amazon, and all I found was one listing on Amazon that it was temporarily out of stock. Maybe nobody over here has seen it for sale.

RE: Good Reading?
 

Hi everyone

<span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Arial; ">I've done some digging, and you can get the book Basic Aeronautics for Modellers, by Alasdairdirectly from the company. They have an American office, but also an online shop. The link to the book is here:

https://shop.traplet.com/product.aspx?c=15

It's currently $15. I think there's a sale on.</span></span>

RE: Good Reading?
 

Hi everyone

<span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Arial; ">I've done some digging, and you can get the book Basic Aeronautics for Modellers, by Alasdairdirectly from the company. They have an American office, but also an online shop. The link to the book is here:

https://shop.traplet.com/product.aspx?c=15

It's currently $15. I think there's a sale on.</span></span>

RE: Good Reading?
 

You can buy this and a wide selection of related RC modelling books, DVDs and 13 hobby and craft magazine titles, directly from the publisher's (Traplet Publications) online shop at www.trapletshop.com

The Seasonal Sale runs until 31 January 2010, with savings of up to 65%

The contact details for the US office are [email protected] or call 217 3552970.

For more details about Traplet, see the following review on RC Universe:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=983

RE: Good Reading?
 

Hi CrateCruncher- don't forget Martin Simons sailplane books. Although not aerodynamic theory, these books are worth their weight in gold!

RE: Good Reading?
 

I've created a thread for this question (it is titled: "Help choosing an airfoil..." )so that it'll have a better chance at an answer than it'll have being buried in a thread about books.

Please, if you wish to answer it, place the answer post in that other thread. This one is about "Good Reading" and books.

:D hi can i get help selecting an airfoil for an A-4 SKY HAWK.. 16 lbs.45 inch span. i think is has a. naca 64110 now.sharp leading edge. 22.5 root.20 span 40 deg sweep.5 inch tip. im looking at an goe-676..??

RE: Good Reading?
 

I have that very book, and it's the one that I most often use for reference. I like it because it's written for real people and is not saturated with too much classbook theory that is really unnecessary to understand what we need to know about aircraft design. Yet, it has more than enough theory and formulas for people who want to get more into the techy side just for the fun of it.

The first book I started with was pretty decent, and it was probably all anyone would need to successfully complete their own project. It's called "Design & Build Your Own R/C Aircraft" by Kenneth L. Smith. Much thinner than the book by Chevalier, I still treasure it and reference it along with the Chevalier book.
But really, the Chevalier book is all anyone needs to have a complete "library" for model aircraft design.

Some of the books mentioned earlier in this thread are more technical and less practical for our hobby purposes, but that's great for a younger guy who wants to maybe go in that direction as a career in aviation design.

I don't even know if the Chevalier book is still in print, but if you can find a copy, get it. It's all you really need.

RE: Good Reading?
 

Small world. I used to fly with Howard Chevalier back in the '80's. His eyesight was failing him so I would assist him sometimes in getting his 'creations' airborne. He was very interesting to talk to and more than a little gruff with people that didn't grasp aerodynamic concepts or had differing opinions. I also was involved with the Aeronautical Engineering Dept. Senior Project at Texas A&M as a test pilot for the student projects. Howard would be involved as a consultant and would have great advice for soon-to-be graduated seniors. We would attend desk critiques of the assigned project, often a task oriented aircraft with minimum payload capabilities, and would offer suggestions as to the structural integrity and aerodynamic soundness of the design. There were some pretty creative aircraft to be sure and some that were not so much creative as they were just well thought out. The more mundane looking aircraft usually were the best fliers with the outrageous designs usually relegated to high speed taxi tests (if the undercarriage would hold up) due to excessive weight.