Good airfoil for a beginner?

[bykrdan]

Hello -

By now, I've made a couple of nice, micro-sized foam models that are very enjoyable second or third airplanes. For a beginner, they would be quite a handful.

What I would like to do now is go back and design an introductory model for my friends (none of whom have flown before) - a fun but forgiving high-wing model with some dihedral, using rudder and elevator.

I use cambered plate wings on my models, which works fine, but since I've recently come into a mountainful of blue foam, I may as well cut proper wing cores.

Can you recommend a good airfoil for a beginner (will be in the 13" wingspan by 2.25" chord neighborhood), one that will provide fairly consistent lift over a wide speed range, and work at fairly slow speeds? Is this the "Clark Y" airfoil?

Thank you,
Dan.

[Andy W]

You got it.. Clark Y!
..a

[kartoffel]

I hate to be the resident flat plate nut, but flat is going to be better than a Clark Y. The given chord at 10 miles per hour: Re = 17000. A Clark Y or any "conventional" airfoil at that Reynolds number will suffer laminar separation bubbles.

Start with a flat plate. Perfectly flat will be fine up to a CL_max of about 0.5. If you need greater lift coefficient, put in a little camber. Jef Raskin's article (http://jef.raskincenter.org/published/airfoil.html) on micro RC airfoils may give you some ideas.

Keep the blue foam around for fuselages and such. 1/16" or even 1/32" balsa is sturdy enough when the airplane's light.

[Ollie]

At this size the best flat very thin airfoil (inverted, upright and wide speed range and low weight) up to 4% camber very thin airfoil ( upright and slow airspeed only) for all trainers to expert planes.

[Ollie]

kartoffel,
Sorry about steping on your lines. I agree you. I'm just slow by one minute.

[kartoffel]

No worries Ollie :)

By the way, I just killed my lunch hour reading your "Ultimate DS" thread. Good stuff!