Shh..... slopers turning into park flyers.... It is a epidemic

Originally Posted by David Cortina

So this is where all my homies are hanging out!

Don’t tell anyone DC......we are in hiding. I am currently afraid to fly fast, so now I just float around in circles, freaking out, hoping I make my time. Then I dork it in for a landing as if I was trying to destroy my airplane. It’s a really stupid activity.

I am trying to become a "Masterdurator"!

Originally Posted by David Cortina

So this is where all my homies are hanging out!

Free "Gas Bag" tattoos to newbies

Originally Posted by Joe W

Target,

To paraphrase what I had sent to Kyle, my ballast cg is about 8-10 mm ahead of my empty weight cg.

As the construction weights get lowered due to increased manufacturing skills/technology, the need for ballast starts at a lower wind level. The Maxa is an excellent example in this regard. I am still amazed at how a bit of ballast turns the plane from a "gas-bag" floater to a speed machine.

I'll have to start a new thread on my settings and set-up philosophy for my Maxa. I've collected the data, just need to organize it so that it is easily understandable!

Joe, could you share some of your settings like ailerons and flaps differential, ballast vs. wind?
Jean-Michel

Originally Posted by FreeGlide

Free "Gas Bag" tattoos to newbies

Pick a number and have a seat...

No sun and cold? Then fly with a small hill.

Maxa4E vs slop (6 min 6 sec)

Design question

The aileron's on the Maxa are cut all the way thru the tips, the same on the Precision, not the case on the Xplorer. One school of thought I have read is that ailerons cut thru to the tips promotes tip stall but seeing and hearing reports on the Maxa this doesn't sound like the case, also, has anyone had any experiance with draging a tip on this wing or a wing with the aileron extending to the tip and causing damage to the aileron and/ or said servo? ... thoughts?

IHAVAWDY,
If the wing is properly designed ( e.g. Flaps and ailerons have constant % of local chord over the full wingspan), then full Span flaps/ ailerons are aerodynamically better: you have ailerons all the way out where they are most effective and the lift distribution is cleaner when you camber the wing ( can remain elliptical). Both should result * theoretically* in better performance and should not be more prone to a stall.

The drawback is that the planform is constraint by the constant % chord of the surfaces and straight hingelines. So no fancy wing tips and such.

Reto

Some folks claim that an aileron that is full length to the tip is easier to damage, but I can't say that I have seen this in practice.
Maybe for a plane that is landed in rough terrain like a sloper, but for a TD plane, I think that is BS...
And I personally don't care for curved tips. I'd rather have ailerons all the way to the tips.

Thanks Reto, I appreciate you responding to my question, and I agree w/you Target, curved tips have sailed....

Curved tips are a pain for storage and transport.... I'm always afraid they will break, or in storage gouge another panel.
In Drela and Wurts we trust, how far wrong can you go siding with them?

R,
target

I have zero aileron differential in my Maxa 4. Turns flat with minimum input. Super ship!!

I thought curved tips were supposed to increase performance, by using the tip vortex to increase effective span. In the old days we used to call them "Hoerner tips". I agree with everyone that they are a pain in the butt, however, they supposedly help performance.

George

Supposedly. I don't think any statistically significant improvement has ever been measured.

Neil.

Hi George

Winglets can help reduce induced drag, but by virtue this is only valid over a certain range of positive lift coefficients (cl). Thus a plane that spends most time in such a regime (e.g. airliner in cruise flight) can benefit from winglets.

However for cl=0, the winglets and curved tips become essentially airbrakes, as there is no lift and thus no induced drag. An F3B plane has a lot of flight regimes close to cl=0 (zoom, entry dive for speed run, speed run itself, fast distance), thus the curved tips were abandoned to favor those fast flight regimes.

I hope Joe W can chime in and explain why curved tips have disappeared in J planes too (although they spent most time at positive cl). Maybe because the chord of such a winglet/curved tip (and thus RE) would be too small?

Best,
Reto