CactusJackSlade
Dec 06, 2003, 07:58 PM
Yahooooo!
It flys... and flys well in the flying wing/fin&rudder configuration, MUCH better than trying to use a V tail for pitch control. The pitch stability problem seems to have vanished in the flyinf wing set-up.
Ollie - you were right. The CG was significantly forward from where it was when using a rear elevator set-up.. On my first flight I had a few degrees reflex and I couldn't keep the nose down. If I simply reduced the reflex it became pitch twitchy (tail heavy). So I added some nose weight and added back the reflex.
It now flys very well and the rudder is an absolute hoot. When I mix in a little rudder there is no adverse yaw issues when starting a turn... PERIOD! I anticipate some pretty cool manuvers using the rudder once I get dialed in!
This is a THICK airfoil and it should be a real floater. It was really a slope day and the penetration on this bird is not to hot. Also I did not make a real heavy spar system in this wing so ballasting it would probably destroy it in a high G turn... So slope only on the light slope/thermal days I think.
I only flew for about 10 minutes but i will fly again soon. I want to work more on the CG/reflex relationship to get even better stability and handling.
Oh, the croww mixing even worked pretty well and once I get the proportions of up aileron and down flap dialed in this will be a very cool feature! As I had it set up I could go about 2/3 of the spoiler stick and still be in good control with noticable slowing of the wing. More than 2/3 stick and it wanted to pitch down... so I need to reduce the proportion of flaps and increase the proportion of up aileron.
I wonder what the birds will think...
Here are some first flight photos.
It flys... and flys well in the flying wing/fin&rudder configuration, MUCH better than trying to use a V tail for pitch control. The pitch stability problem seems to have vanished in the flyinf wing set-up.
Ollie - you were right. The CG was significantly forward from where it was when using a rear elevator set-up.. On my first flight I had a few degrees reflex and I couldn't keep the nose down. If I simply reduced the reflex it became pitch twitchy (tail heavy). So I added some nose weight and added back the reflex.
It now flys very well and the rudder is an absolute hoot. When I mix in a little rudder there is no adverse yaw issues when starting a turn... PERIOD! I anticipate some pretty cool manuvers using the rudder once I get dialed in!
This is a THICK airfoil and it should be a real floater. It was really a slope day and the penetration on this bird is not to hot. Also I did not make a real heavy spar system in this wing so ballasting it would probably destroy it in a high G turn... So slope only on the light slope/thermal days I think.
I only flew for about 10 minutes but i will fly again soon. I want to work more on the CG/reflex relationship to get even better stability and handling.
Oh, the croww mixing even worked pretty well and once I get the proportions of up aileron and down flap dialed in this will be a very cool feature! As I had it set up I could go about 2/3 of the spoiler stick and still be in good control with noticable slowing of the wing. More than 2/3 stick and it wanted to pitch down... so I need to reduce the proportion of flaps and increase the proportion of up aileron.
I wonder what the birds will think...
Here are some first flight photos.