Conwy Soarer Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 It all starts with a drawing. My initial plan was to design a 1500 - 2000 mm span aerobatic soarer as a winter project but I thought it might be fun to design a baby version for sports flying at 1000mm span - with the possibility of submitting for publication if it flew well First off I laser cut a collection of .8mm birch ply parts for the fuselage, AMT and wing templates.. And then onto assembly, the pictures should be fairly self explanatory - if you have any questions post a reply. And now onto the wing, sanded from medium 10mm balsa with a .8 X 8mm carbon spar. and now to some covering and graphics so thats it so far - just waiting for the right wind and weather to perform its first flight. What do you think so far? Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Houghton 1 Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Jon, that looks great If I had somewhere to build a beast like that I'd have one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Looks wonderful Jon, I look forward to the results of the test flight CheersDanny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Houghton 1 Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 In fact Jon, get the kids to build me one, I'll buy it, come up and collect it, bring a rx and battery pack with me and test fly it off the Orme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Nice looking beasty! Just hope it doesn't go the way of the original Gelert BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiltshire Flyer Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Very nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SA Allan Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Very nice and designed for a quick build . I've never tried slope soaring but would like to so hopefully it flies well and gets published. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 11/08/2011 00:03:09:Nice looking beasty! Just hope it doesn't go the way of the original Gelert BEB Oh I don't know, lived a few years, died a hero, and will be remembered forever.Dont forget the acronym of slope BEB. Smashed Lost or Pulverized Eventually. Looks great Jon, look forward to seeing it soon up the big rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iawnski Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 very very nice ,send one my way to test fly ,honest i dont mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conwy Soarer Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 Well the gear is in and its ready to go once its been recharged. Stats if I have got my maths right are: All up weight at the current C of G – 319 g 11.3 oz Wing area - 1113 cm² 1.2 ft² which hopefully means a wing loading of – 0.16 g/cm² 9.41 oz/ft² I only have my compact camera with me but hopefully my wife will manage to get some flight test shots either tomorrow or Tuesday. Jon Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 as above by iawnski--- we need a couple for the HTP evaluation dept to try out in the N/east hills...asap... ken anderson.... ne..1 ... test/keep for good dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conwy Soarer Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 I have posted a bit more info and pics over on the gliders section, but here is a video of today's maiden for interested parties that dont frequent the silent section of the forum. Pictures of the flying can be seen in my albums. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Houghton 1 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Looking good Jon, but what did you think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conwy Soarer Posted August 23, 2011 Author Share Posted August 23, 2011 Posted by Steve Houghton 1 on 22/08/2011 23:19:44: Looking good Jon, but what did you think Now there is a question, TBH I think its ace! Its quite nippy as you can see but it can be slowed down for landings. I havent really played or needed the spoileron function yet. On the day of the test flight I must have landed it 4 or 5 times just testing things out. Aerobatically it performs all the usual aeros that do not require the use of rudder, a rudder will be added to the second prototype! Rolls at full rates are blisteringly quick and quite axial, inverted only requires slight down elevator (much less than the Speedo) A couple of thoughts for the second model would be to remake the wing using 12 or 15 mm balsa, I used 10mm and TBH the wing section was a tad thinner than planned hence the high speed ability. I am probably going to knock up an EPP version also. So as I said I am very happy with it so far, will hopefully take it out tomorrow for some more air time. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Houghton 1 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I look forward to the next installment Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conwy Soarer Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Did some further flight testing yesterday, the rates are now pretty much where I want them, I turned out that my low rate setting is actually the best flying set up with rates set below that on my full rate set up on the maiden both the aileron and elevator were way to much!! Landings without spoileron are still not an issue in winds of 10mph plus, I had a go with the spoileron settings yesterday but found it to severe bring the model in almost vertically, first bit of damage here - I broke the rear wing bolt shear plate on one of my spoileron approaches. Next flight I am going to play around with camber +ve and -ve to see how that goes (not that you need it) I might also try a bit of flapperon to slow the approach down and see if that is more useful than spoileron. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Houghton 1 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Hey Jon. Haven't seen any updates on this project, hows it going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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