Hey everyone,

So I'm designing my own rc airplane, drawing it 2D in autoCAD 2007, later in 3D in Solidworks (hopefully, if I am able to get my hands on that handy software), and then building and flying it. The model will be completed by February 2010, that's my deadline and if I don't get it done by then I am screwed with my school.

The dimensions (all in inches) in the attachments are very unclear so if anyone wants a DWG/DXF of the plans as of now, or larger images,, then give your email I'll send them to you right away. Here are the general dimensions:

Wingspan 36 in
Chord 6 in
Wing thickness 0.7874 in
Length 28.5 in
Height (wihout canopy) 3.02 in
Tail arm 21 in
Nose arm 6 in (battery, ESC, and engine located in front of CG)
Weight 0.882 pounds
Thrust 1.287 pounds force/0.10725 horsepower

And if anyone is interested in raw dimensions and don't want the DXF/JPEG files, here are almost all the most important dimensions:


Fuse length 2.25 ft
Fuse height 0.2925 ft

Wing Area 1.5 ft^2
Wing length 3 ft
Wing MAC 0.5 ft

Horiz. stab area 0.237 ft^2
Horiz. stab chord 0.281 ft
Horiz. stab length 0.843 ft

Elevator area 0.0797 ft^2
Elevator MAC 0.084 ft (elevator with aerodynamic balancing)
Elevator length 0.843 ft

Vert. stab area 0.07821 ft^2

Rudder area 0.02273 ft^2

Horiz. tail volume coefficient 0.553 (very stable)
Vert. tail volume coefficient 0.03

Tail moment arm 1.75 ft
Nose moment arm 0.5 ft

Weight 0.882 lbs

Static margin 14%

Minimal Speed 17.585 ft/s
Maximal lift to drag ratio airspeed 29.14 ft/s
Best glide airspeed 29.14 ft/s
Maximal climb rate at sea level 86.8004 ft/s

So that's a start Please tell me of any faults in the design and possible improvements I can make before I go into too much detail with the plans (many of the dimensions were set as the genral dimensions for an rc trainer and then modified)

Any comments, ANY, would be really really appreciated please comment so I know that I'm not keeping this thread up to date for nothing.

Sincerely,

Daniel.