Hey, I bought the new hangar 9 Cub and I love it. I want to attach a sign on the back of the plane and fly around with it ( simular to the advertising signs you see at the beach ) Can anyone please tell me what the material is, where I can get it, How I should do it. I know its going to produce drag but I have enough power to do it, I think it will look great. Thanks in advance.

You can use any light-weight fabric, or even a piece of netting with letters attached.

What's more important is how it is set up. You need to add a weight to the bottom of the TE so that it doesn't twist and turn. It's also a good idea to have a release, so in case you get in trouble you can detach it.

This is an interesting topic!

Minnflyer: Have you actually tested this and know for a fact that the illustrated weight works?
I can't get my head around how that weight wont drag the whole "sign" down or prevent it from spinning...hmm..

/I should definately make a few signs with taunting messages for my friend who's beginning to fly helicopters this summer

Thank you Minn, very interesting specially the weight thing on the end of the sign. I am going to give it a shot, it will look great pulling by a cub.

I can see where the weight makes sense. But I have to lean towards 005 side a bit.

How do you know the amount of weight to use? Too much and it hangs, not enough and it doesn't work.

Decisions, decisions...

I hope Minnflyer (who I know is very experienced) will elaborate this and give some more details.
Would also be good if anybody else with experience of towing a banner could chip in with their ideas and set-up's.
Meassurments and drawing would be great (metric of course

I wonder how big banner can be towed by my LT40/.52fourstroke plane? And how to set up the release mechanism?


*/Edit: I searched for "Banner Towing" and got plenty of reading to do Still I'd appreaciate if someone could tell me how big/heavy banner I could tow with my trainer set-up?

Well, as far as "How Big" or "How Long" or "How Much Weight" That's going to be trial and error (One of the reasons to have a release mechanism! ) Obviously some planes will pull a bigger banner that other, so your milage may vary.

Another thing to keep in mind is taking off...

You want to set the plane on the runway, then pull the banner out in front of the plane (But just slightly to one side so you don't hit it with the prop). This way, when you start to accellerate, you won't be dragging the entire load all at once.

Hmm....usually the weight is at the front of the banner. You have a rod at the front to support the leading edge, and a weight at its bottom.

With the weight as shown in the diagram, there's nothing to prevent the leading edge of the banner from spinning 'round and 'round.

A silly question:

if the banner is attached to the tail of the plane, wouldn't it affect the CG? would't it make sence to attach it at the CG point> like towing a glider<?

Vasek; I did some reading here on RCU and yes, you should attach the banner hook around CG.
Mounting it in the landing gear bolts seem like a good idea.

Ooops, Bax made a good point that I forgot to mention...

The LE of the banner must be stiff

As far as the weight, I used one in the rear, but one in the front would work too. Try it either way (Or both) and see which works better for you.

Well I've been around some banner towing with the full scale stuff, so I'll offer a few thoughts about them that might be useful here...

Bax is right about the leading edge of the banner needing to be stiff and that's where the weight is as well, I've never seen one weighted at the back of the banner.

Full scale stuff is set up so the banner attach mechanism is at the rear of the aircraft much like it is with airplanes setup to tow gliders.

Full scales do not take off with the banner attached, but a line with a grappling hook is attached to the aircraft then run into the cockpit area. The banner is laid out so the front of the banner is facing rearward down the runway with it's tow lead laid out farther down. After takeoff that line attached to the aircraft is dropped outside trailing behind and below the airplane, then they make a low pass over the runway where the banner line is supported across the runway on two poles about 12 feet high and sixty feet apart. The pilot then makes a full power "best angle of climb speed" pull up and if he caught the banner it follows him.

These operations require an aircraft with power to spare and even then overheating can be a problem. There also must be some modifications to the tail of the aircraft to take the additional load as well as the ability to release the cable from the cockpit, usually just a cable with a T-handle is used on the ones I've seen.

I've actually seen full-scale banner towing done with the airplane on the ground and taking off with the banner attached. They had about 150' of towline, and laid it all out in front of the airplane. That gave it about 300' to accelerate before the banner was pulled by the plane. They were using a modified Stearman biplane with over 250 Hp. (don't know the exact engine power). The Stearman was usually airborne in about 250' with a mild breeze. The banner would then nicely lift off. They didn't land with the banner attached, though, they'd make a low fly-by and release the tow cable, which fell to the ground, nicely laid-out.

Okay Just so I can get a clear understanding I have provided a picture of my cub flying. Someone with basic editing skill can please show me where I would attach the towing cables based on this picture. I'm not exactly sure where I would attach it.

Well there are a lot of those Stearmans running around with the 450HP Pratt & Whitney conversions in them, R-985's IIRC, makes a h*ll of an aerobatic performer out of them and I'd love to get a ride in one some day...

The tow planes I've seen were a C-150 with a 150HP conversion, a Super Cub with a 180HP in it, and a C-185 with the big Continental IO-520 in it. All of those had power to spare for the airframe, but none would get in the air in 250 ft. Probably why the Stearman guy can do it that way.

NJAIRSTRIKE, It's not critical where you put it. The closer to the tail, the more it will affect your pitch (You need to add down trim to hold the tail up) The closer to the wheels the less it will affect your pitch.

BTW, here's an easy release mechanism.

Why couldn't you take off with the banner rolled up and rig a release mechanism to unfurl it in flight? That would eliminate any problems with dragging and snagging the ground during takeoff and maybe it would be less complicated than other methods. Probably a big hazzard in full-scale but with R/C, it seems like it could be done with very light weight banner material (like mesh)-possibly disrupting flight only momentarily until you correct it.

You could most certainly do that, but first, you need to rig up a second release mechanism, and second, you must attach the rolled up banner to a place close to the CG lest you make the plane tail heavy.

And third, you're going to be in for quite a jolt when you release it!

The sudden jar at the attachment point might be bad--especially if it were tied to the tail. As long as the area was reinforced, then it might work.

The following have been taken from the AMA archives.

Great Post Randy!

Hey Guys, There is some banner towing gear on ebay at the moment from Australia. Search "airmod" and it should come up. Also he has some bomb dropping gear. Check it out!!