Wing loading question when increasing scale

[Nowell York]

I'm planning on building a larger version of my current stretched IFO. My IFO flies with a wing loading of 2oz/sq ft. and I'd like similar flying characteristics in the new IFO. If I double the wing area could I increase the wing loading and still have a plane that flies like my 2oz/sq ft. IFO?

I realize that full scale aircraft fly with huge wing loadings relative to their hobby size counterparts (hundres of ounces per sq ft). As aircraft size increases can wing loading increase while giving you the same flying characteristics? If I built a 40ft. wingspan IFO with a wing loading of 2oz/sq ft., in a light breeze it would be carried away like a sail correct?

[Ollie]

There are several effects at work. As the scale increases, there is a reynolds number increase with chord and airspeed which increases the maximum lift coefficient of the airfoil a bit. If the structural components are scaled up linearly and the same materials are used the weight goes up as the cube of the linear dimension. The third effect is one of perception. A full scale jet liner, flying at 10,000 feet and going near 600 MPH appears to be flying slower than our models.

So, it all depends on what you mean by "flies like." If the larger model, which is 41% bigger in span, flies 41% farther away and 41% faster it will appear to be flying the same as the smaller model. Because the lift increases as the square of the airspeed and, and linearly with the wing area, the 41% faster plane with twice the wing area will produce four times the lift. If it weighs four times as much as the smaller plane it will appear to fly the same.

Unfortunately It will only be twice as strong but subject to four times the shock in a crash. It will only be capable of half the G's in a high speed pull out even though it is twice as strong. That's because the inertial forces will be four times as large.

The mouse and the elephant are made of the same kind of bone material with similar strengths and similar proportions. A mouse jumping off a roof won't break anything but an elephant falling off a loading dock will break almost every bone in his body. That's how structures scale.