the club that i fly with is having a combat day this sunday.

the basic rules are that it has to be a profile foamy, under 38"ws, use a GWS350c gearbox, a 9.6 750 mah nimh battery, and you get a carbon wing spar too.

i am NOT used to making profile, flat-plate aircraft and so it seems strange to me that such small aircraft with no airfoil will be able to carry all of the necessary equipment it needs...

for this sunday ive made an fw190 a-8, 34" wingspan and 172 square inches.

so, the question is: will it fly? and if so, how well? i know you dont need or want a floater for combat... but does it have enough area to actuall carry its own weight?

thanks for looking

-David

Should do fine. There are several designs forhtis type of class around here, such as the Blu-Stang. Doesn't have to be a flat-plate wing, underchambered works well.

Originally Posted by hawaiianspork226

for this sunday ive made an fw190 a-8, 34" wingspan and 172 square inches.

so, the question is: will it fly? and if so, how well? i know you dont need or want a floater for combat... but does it have enough area to actuall carry its own weight?

-David

Dave,

I'm also making a FW-190A-8 with a 32" wingspan, hoping to make it out Sunday. I just cut out three simple fuse profiles and glued them together with white glue, cutting the vertical stabilizer off the outer two parts to keep it thin, and cut a scale wing single piece and rolled just a little bit of camber into it. I'll epoxy a couple of 1/8 x 1/8 spruce spars under the wing, as I have no carbon, and will use a 350 C with two servos for full length ailerons and elevator (and the 9.6 NiMH battery). I'll get it put together tomorrow and wait to balance it before I cut a pocket to tape the battery into.

I have no doubt it will fly. How well, who knows, probably just limited by my inability to fly anything with any aerobatics. With the single panel wing i'm sure we can rip them right off doing severe maneuvers, so I will limit my throws and just suffer the performance loss (I'll be the one with the short ribbon).

Rick

The batteries you are going to use are very finicky, and don't seem to last long for me. A GWS 350 C ratio with a 9-7 prop will wear the battery out after 20-30 runs, if you are lucky, and charge at low rates after cooling. If the battery is not good, fresh, and powerfull, it will have trouble pulling the weight of a flat wing foamy that size.

From my experience undercamber wings are much more efficient at carrying the weight you will require of it also.

FYI E-combat is a blast. I regularly fly with 3 different groups in my area, and we have for the most part switched to brushless outrunners (BP-12 and 21, or CD rom style) and Lipoly batteries. This setup is actually cheaper if you are going to use the plane more than once, because you don't have to constantly replace burned up motors.

well its good news that it should fly; bad news for the undercambered advice as i have already glued it in place; maybe on the next one.

nice choice of plane, Rick lol although yours will be a bit floaty-er than mine. see you this sunday i hope, if the weather is good


as for the battery; i dont really care how long it lasts; were making these planes to be destroyed eventually and at the very least abused heavily; i dont think lipos would be such a great idea in that situation. besides the nimh batteries are about $10 a pack anyways... not that big a deal really. although the "official rule sheet" says that lipos are allowed and that the allowed voltages are 7.2-9.6 volts; since most 3-cell lipos are rated at 11.1 the next allowable step down would be a 2 cell, and at 7.4 volts that less than a peak-charged 9.6 volt nimh... and also since they are only 4 minute heats the nimh wont die too terribly. i will however, practice and enjoy flying with the lipo as it will last 2wice as long as the nimh

-David

these things are FUN!

and WOW, they actually fly well.

i have always been against flat plate aircraft, but today they won me over. ill have a profile plane around whenever i can now; small flight area, cheep parts, and no stress; the perfect toss around plane

the FW 190 flies great, even with the extra weight of paint; no worries about wing area from now on; id even go smaller and get a bit more speed out of it next time

ive got another airframe ready to go for when i toast the 190; its a mitsubishi j2m3 raiden. more wing area and a big, fat fuselage; should do great knife edge

thanks for the help guys

-David

OH YA and the nimh's are fine, just short lived; i get about 5 min. out of them i think, but thats at WOT.

the lipos are fun too; less voltage but longer flight times. GREAT fun

-David

Well I'm finally ready for the invasion of Normandy. I need some decals, but I finished the paint job after the maiden this afternoon. Not the best I could have done, much of it is brushed on - too lazy to get out the airbrush and mask everything off.

looks great, flies great too

lets fly again this weekend

-David

ok so i want to do plans for the FW 190 and a couple other profile combat type planes... what format should i save them in? Im making them in rhino... i want as many ppl as possible to be able to have at them so let me know which format i should shoot for

OH and heres some pics of the 2 i built, the FW190 A/F-8, and the Mitsubishi J2M3 Raiden

OK the rhino model is done; how should i post the line drawings? format???

ill try to post a line drawing; if you like it enough, scale it to 34" wingspan and have at it

the CG on mine is fine at about 1/4-1/3 chord, depending on how you like to fly

-David

ill try and get the raiden done tomorrow