Bill Southwell

I have a feeling that the flying stab and as you have shown a more forward CG would help a lot. I believe that a thicker airfoiled (symmetrical) stabilator would be night and day difference in control. I would stiffen the stab with carbon as you have done for good measure. I know it is a lot easier said than done. You are really taming a beast Simon! My hat is off to you sir. Best Regards, Bill

That is Fantastic!! You are taming the beast.

Looks awesome!!

Sorry to see the test didn't go perfect but it proved your fan setup will work and you have a positive amount of lift. I think you are right that the longer nose sections are creating lift and is causing the cg to need a more forward position. You could think about it like the X-3 is a lifting body with just enough wing added to allow it to take off, well at 40% of mach one..... Bill

The X-3 is looking good Simon. The picture you posted with the prosthetic proboscis and the X-3 together gave me a thought. If you have a set of small neodymium magnets grabbing each other embedded into the face of the fuselage and the rear of the nose cone and add a short indexing feature to keep it from moving around but not enough to prevent it from easily dislodging at the hint of a side load or impact. It would not need to be more than a rounded nub with a corresponding small rounded divot to fit into. If you were to make the mating surface at an angle with it being leaned rearward at the top and forward at the bottom it would the slide up and off the model on landing or if it were to contact anything or anyone. It would slide or pop off rather than being stiff in compression on a straight on impact.

Looks great! All the best on your maiden. May Lift be with you. Best Regards, Bill

Hi Simon, You are most welcome. I worried I overdid it, but it seems like every picture had a tidbit. When I saw the picture of the instrument package and that it was said there was 1200 lbs. worth of it, the inertial coupling issue started to make sense. I agree with you on the stabilator and the trim tabs...the only way they would be of any use would be in a manual control system. The photos of the horizontal stab looks solid without any sign of tabs or actuators. Artist interpretation affects most 3 views in some way. I like the one piece stab. That must have been a sobering moment sitting in that elevator seat and knowing how long it would take to bail out. Then add the high g gyrations that seem to go with experimental flight testing....low probability of survival. The F104 really benefited from the X-3. I wonder how many engineers from the X-3 project were later involved in the Lockheed efforts. Best Regards, Bill

The lamp is the back up light....lol.