Angle Of Attack

[inedesca]

How do you choose the angle of attack when scratch building?
What if it is zero and what if it is too much?
Rubber models have high angles of attack whilst acrobats have zero angles of attack, what this means?
With a high angle of attack you have more lift, more drag and closer to the stall angle, so why is it used?:confused:

[slammin]

If the plane is a slowflyer, it will most likey be cruising around a high lift coefficients, so it will most likely have a high angle of incidence. If you are designing a plane for maximum efficiency, you would set the angle of attack at its most efficient angle(highest lift to drag ratio). For aerobatic airplanes, the angle is zero so that the plane handles similarly upright and inverted

[vintage1]

Don't confuse angle of attack with angle of incidence.

Angle of attack refers to the angle the wing flies at, whereas angle of incidence refers to the wing angle with respect to some arbitray reference line.

If your angle of incidence is wrong, the model will still fly - after you trim the elevator - but it may do so in a nose or tail down attitude.

My vintage machine tends to do this a bit when flying slowly. It needs a decent angle of attack to stay up, but the incidence is too low, so the trim needed forces the nose up.. Makes it nice to land tho as its a tail dragger. Tends to come in almost on the three points...