chrisbarker

Hi,

Can any one help me with information on this glider? It is out of Frank Zaic's book "Model Glider Design", pg. 129. All I know about it is what is listed on the plan.

Thanks,
Chris

BMatthews

That's one of my favouites as well.

Sadly I've never seen anything about it other than what you have there. And this is after about 15 years of following SAM stuff fairly closely. But then if it doesn't have a coil inside somewhere then SAM guys don't pay a lot of attention to it. Even rubber flying is definetley the "poor relation" in SAM circles.

I do recall seeing a version built in England by someone there. It was just a picure in a column about an Old Warden meet or some such.

chrisbarker

BMatthews,

Well I am just going to have to build it without knowing where it came from.
I think that it has nice lines. I've been taking some of those plans and drawing them full size, modifying them to modern construction and RC. I'm not necescarily a SAM purist, not that there isn't alot to learn. But, there are some modern improvements like spars, composites, RC and so on that can be applied.

Chris

BMatthews

It's nice to see someone that doesn't mind traveling the lesser used path...

If you blew it up to just under 2X it would fit into the 2 meter category.

Or with parkflyer radio it could be a nice ball diamond soarer with a mini high start. I use a mini-start made from a single loop of left over 1/4 flat rubber and 100 feet of 10 lb test monofilament. It launches a 12 oz hand launch glider in fine style when my arm gives out.

chrisbarker

That is an interesting idea of scaling it to 2m. The fuse at 40" span is 3" deep though and maybe it could just be stretched rather than scaled in all dims.
I think that i'll build it as a small parkflyer or mosquito class glider.

Chris

DICKEYBIRD

Yup, I'm with you....there ain't many things around that's more pleasing to the eye than an ellipse and this plane is all about ellipses!

If you're gonna make it a HLG/Park flyer, you might want to reduce the H/stab size and move the CG forward to more modern numbers. Looks like it was designed back when the only thing better than a large stab was and even larger stab!

BMatthews

NOOOOOOooooo.

Dickey, I'll have to teach you about free flight setups one day....

Keep it like it is and you can run the CG back around 50% or even further back and it'll still be calm to fly. With the big horizontals the usual rules don't apply.

How about a compromise in size? 1 1/2 times for a 60 inch span and 4.5 inch deep on the fuselage. This size would still do well at about 10 to 12 oz with that mini-start I described above.

If you just scaled the lengths then it would look like a broom handle with wings again. Keep the fuselage. It's not as big a drag penalty as you think when you're using the old timey airfoil and flying as slow as they usually do.

DICKEYBIRD

Been there, got the T-shirt! Spent my share of spare time chasing 'em, thank you! Built a Satellite and a Ramrod or 2 back in the old days....BIG stabs!

My suggestion to reduce the stab size and move the CG was in response to Chris's statements about "modifying them to modern construction and RC" and "build it as a small parkflyer or mosquito class glider" in an effort to reduce the drag and overall weight to make it a more successful small model. As a matter of fact, I'd probably pick a modern airfoil as well. I'd try keep it looking just like the original design but make some changes to modernize the performance.

But, now that I think about it, that might be a sacrilige, eh?

BMatthews

That was where my thoughts were coming from too........ eh....