*help Needed* ( Designing Aircraft Theories!!!!)

[flyingwing12]

Hey everyone in the forum, i was just looking around on the web and i have a few questions about designing model aircraft. Now i know there are many ways, i just read about 3 different suggestions but none of them were grabbing my brain. I have my own method of designing my aircraft.

1.) I take a fuselage, usually about three feet in length. And i take the wing and find the length of the chord, fin a third of that chord, and then i take the motor and battery and equipment and place them on the fuse, then i figure out where that balances then, and i place the wings on!. it has always worked for me. but look on down and see the rest of my theories. :d

2.) Then i take that measurement and make the wings about two inches longer than the fuselage, for the tail surfaces i usually take a multiple of the length of the wing chord or the length and make the surfaces ( EX. the wing length is 3 feet, so thats 36 inches. i would make the VS probably 9 inches, 9x4 is 36. and i double it for the HS. ( IF YOUR SKETCHY ABOUT MY POST CONTINUE TO READ ON, ALL OF MY AIRCRAFT MADE BY USING MY THEORIES FLEW PERFECTLY THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!!.).

3.) i have heard that the control surfaces are about 1/4 of the chord of each seperate surface, like if the chord length of a wing is 8 inches, 1/4 of 8 is 2 inches, and the length would follow the same steps

4.) NOW HERE IS MY QUESTION!!!

in a detailed manner could someone please tell me all the steps to designing a model aircraft. I AM ONLY 14 YEARS OLD. I have a feeling that my methods are not at all the way anyone else makes their planes, just help me ou there and give me some tips, links. web pages anything!..


THANKS FOR READING !!!!

[phat23]

I've had this basic drawing on the shop wall for many years. Very useful.

http://www.palosrc.com/instructors/basicdes.pdf

[nmasters]

Rules of thumb are fine but eventually you'll run into limitations. If you want to learn some real theory you need to get some books. For starters I'd suggest "Model Aircraft Aerodynamics" by Martin Simons. And of course keep building new planes

[flyingwing12]

Rules of thumb are fine but eventually you'll run into limitations. If you want to learn some real theory you need to get some books. For starters I'd suggest "Model Aircraft Aerodynamics" by Martin Simons. And of course keep building new planes


well me and a friend are in the designing processes of a ducted fan jet. i just need to learn some basics, i read for about an hour today about aerodynamics on Wikipedia.org. so i think i might need to check out that book :)

[nmasters]

"Tailless Tale" by Ferdinando Galè is specialized on model flying wings, it may be more interesting to you. Also all of the "On The 'Wing" articles from Radio Controlled Soaring Digest are available as PDFs here: http://www.b2streamlines.com/OTW.html

--Norm

[vintage1]

If you go to the last few posts here

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=894826

you can see my explanation for how I calculated the wood sizes for a wing that hopefully will stand about 9g. Its only a small part of aircraft design, and it probably uses some physics that you haven't done yet, and it does assume that you have, but it may serve to introduce a bit of the subject you might not have come across yet.

If you have any questions about it ask here, not there, as that is a build thread only.

There is an awful lot to aircraft design, starting with what you want the thing to do, then that determines what sort of shape it will have, then after that its making sure its strong enough but not too heavy, then settling on how much power it needs. And calculating the proper balance point, how much dihedral it should have,where the wheels have to go and so on.

Each one of the steps involves understanding, and unless you just 'copy' , some mathematics.

But at least it gives you the reason to actually study the mathematics..beyond getting good grades!

[flyingwing12]

If you go to the last few posts here

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=894826

you can see my explanation for how I calculated the wood sizes for a wing that hopefully will stand about 9g. Its only a small part of aircraft design, and it probably uses some physics that you haven't done yet, and it does assume that you have, but it may serve to introduce a bit of the subject you might not have come across yet.

If you have any questions about it ask here, not there, as that is a build thread only.

There is an awful lot to aircraft design, starting with what you want the thing to do, then that determines what sort of shape it will have, then after that its making sure its strong enough but not too heavy, then settling on how much power it needs. And calculating the proper balance point, how much dihedral it should have,where the wheels have to go and so on.

Each one of the steps involves understanding, and unless you just 'copy' , some mathematics.

But at least it gives you the reason to actually study the mathematics..beyond getting good grades!
i am good in mathematics, so i think learning it will be twice as fun as doing it. im ready for it. its my passion

[vintage1]

With respect, that is unusual and welcome in a 14 year old.

Why not start talking about what you want to design, and those of us who have time, can chip in with our ideas, and you will learn as you go?

[flyingwing12]

With respect, that is unusual and welcome in a 14 year old.

Why not start talking about what you want to design, and those of us who have time, can chip in with our ideas, and you will learn as you go?

sure!, why not?. well i am designing a ducted fan aircraft, similar to the mig with consideration of no sweep in the wings, i have built scaled down models of the design and they all work fine,i will have to get a big styrofoam rectangle and shape it into a circle and then hollow it out, and then i plan to stick a ducted fan in the tube, CA it down and then go from there, the whole plane will most likly be a flying tube.

[flyingwing12]

"Tailless Tale" by Ferdinando Galè is specialized on model flying wings, it may be more interesting to you. Also all of the "On The 'Wing" articles from Radio Controlled Soaring Digest are available as PDFs here: http://www.b2streamlines.com/OTW.html

--Norm
Thanks i appreciate it. i have mastered flying wings, i can make them with my eyes closed, a bit easier to balance i think