rbehrends
Sep 24, 2003, 10:54 PM
If you enjoy thermalling and aerobatics this flying wing will do it all very well!
At the Neat event I had the opportunity to get aquainted witha new foam flying wing. After flying a few Zagi thlg followed up by a couple of other flying wings ,I sort of gave up on the Idea, until Mike (better known Stocker) posted that he was in the final design stages of what has come to be known as the "Boomer". My renewed interest came on the heels of flying a Red Herring and actually thermalling it a bit. The only down side was that it displayed unsteady tendencys,kind of like trying to fly a leaf. Now that was the beginning of my new search. Along came Mike with the boomer. We met at the NEAT event where I had the oppotunity to examine and fly first hand. Surrounded by eager onlookers ,my buddies and critics I took my first launch.
It was nothing short of a surprise. It launched like a rocket straight as an arrow to what seemed to be around 70 feet or so. But that was only the beginning! What amazed me was the unusual shallow glide path it was on, followed by some holding and even thermaling turns. Not usual for a flying wing. Then the long jouney back finally coming to rest back in my hands. This was followed by more of the same and each flight ended in awe. What is equally surprising is the speed range. It goes up like a missle then moves out and gets comfortable at a nice penetrating pace, mind you , all this with minimun sink . Even turns are flat,uneventfiull, witdh absolutely no stall tendencies. Thermals are easily read by a sort of a leap followed by a bit of down elevator and then the fun really begins. When you are bored thermalling, you might now want to roll it , loop it ,outsite loop it, and on demand it will do what you ask. My launch heights are consistently 70 to 80 feet,maybe even more.
I feel if Mike hit upon an extremly efficient planform and design and if you follow his instructions you cannot go wrong. As for
the minor changes that I did to mine. Here they are:
I used the 1.6ml tape over the entire wing.
I even extended the tape 1/4 "past the ailerons bottom first then top. Then I trimmed the tape back to within 1/8 " of the ailerons. The strengh of the tape was more important then the flex I might get down the road. Also to minimize the final weight I used Blow Pens to color the leading edges with design followed by solid over the rest of the wing . The bottom untouched. The paint came to about 2 to 3 grams in total. I used a Nmh 270 ma for fuel but still needed a bit of lead for balance. I also used a mini phone jack for charging and as a switch. My balance was best at 5 &7/8 '" from the leading edge. Total weight is 5.6 ounces. My next model will only need one more minor change, and that has to do with beefing up the throwing location on the wing, by using a light balsa spar between the two plates. Also make sure that you locate these plates near the turn at the leading edge. Do not go aft!
Now go out and have some fun with a real dl flying wing!
Thank you for a job well done,Mike!
Regards to all:
Richard
At the Neat event I had the opportunity to get aquainted witha new foam flying wing. After flying a few Zagi thlg followed up by a couple of other flying wings ,I sort of gave up on the Idea, until Mike (better known Stocker) posted that he was in the final design stages of what has come to be known as the "Boomer". My renewed interest came on the heels of flying a Red Herring and actually thermalling it a bit. The only down side was that it displayed unsteady tendencys,kind of like trying to fly a leaf. Now that was the beginning of my new search. Along came Mike with the boomer. We met at the NEAT event where I had the oppotunity to examine and fly first hand. Surrounded by eager onlookers ,my buddies and critics I took my first launch.
It was nothing short of a surprise. It launched like a rocket straight as an arrow to what seemed to be around 70 feet or so. But that was only the beginning! What amazed me was the unusual shallow glide path it was on, followed by some holding and even thermaling turns. Not usual for a flying wing. Then the long jouney back finally coming to rest back in my hands. This was followed by more of the same and each flight ended in awe. What is equally surprising is the speed range. It goes up like a missle then moves out and gets comfortable at a nice penetrating pace, mind you , all this with minimun sink . Even turns are flat,uneventfiull, witdh absolutely no stall tendencies. Thermals are easily read by a sort of a leap followed by a bit of down elevator and then the fun really begins. When you are bored thermalling, you might now want to roll it , loop it ,outsite loop it, and on demand it will do what you ask. My launch heights are consistently 70 to 80 feet,maybe even more.
I feel if Mike hit upon an extremly efficient planform and design and if you follow his instructions you cannot go wrong. As for
the minor changes that I did to mine. Here they are:
I used the 1.6ml tape over the entire wing.
I even extended the tape 1/4 "past the ailerons bottom first then top. Then I trimmed the tape back to within 1/8 " of the ailerons. The strengh of the tape was more important then the flex I might get down the road. Also to minimize the final weight I used Blow Pens to color the leading edges with design followed by solid over the rest of the wing . The bottom untouched. The paint came to about 2 to 3 grams in total. I used a Nmh 270 ma for fuel but still needed a bit of lead for balance. I also used a mini phone jack for charging and as a switch. My balance was best at 5 &7/8 '" from the leading edge. Total weight is 5.6 ounces. My next model will only need one more minor change, and that has to do with beefing up the throwing location on the wing, by using a light balsa spar between the two plates. Also make sure that you locate these plates near the turn at the leading edge. Do not go aft!
Now go out and have some fun with a real dl flying wing!
Thank you for a job well done,Mike!
Regards to all:
Richard