Hi Folks,

Here are my first two attempts at walkalong gliders. The larger one is built with the plans Ken provided at the last meeting. It is a little heavy at 3.5g, but it does work fine as a walkalong.

The second is my micro walkalong attempt and comes in at 0.8g. The basic shape is the same as the original walkalong, but it is built "by eye". The wingspan is 6". I'll test it at work tomorrow to see how well it flies as a walkalong. My preliminary, very short, kitchen test showed promise.

You will need a reasonable amount of space to fly these. The gym at the middle school will be perfect, and the cafeteria is doable. I don't have a clear path long (or wide) enough in my house to do a good flight. Being agile and quick on your feet helps as well (for keeping up with the plane, and not stepping on it if it stalls).

They're amazingly easy to build, so don't let that stop you!

--Jay

The micro walkalong worked great - right up until the 6" wingspan met with my 12" sneaker I'm glad these don't take too long to build

You certainly get some exercise... I'll go out on a limb and say it might be the most aerobic model airplane flying out there.

--Jay

Outstanding Jay!
That micro is too cool

You have inspired me to get going on my walkalong!
This is going to be a very interesting contest

-Ken

Since the odds of stepping on a micro glider are pretty high, I decided to put the design into CAD. These plans are fairly close to my first glider, and reflect my current (second) glider.

Trimming a plane this size takes some patience. I use small pieces of wire folded over the nose and then glued in place. The gluing will affect trim too!

All the walkalongs seem to work better if they are trimmed to porpoise a little (or my technique isn't very good...). The design may still need more improvements.

The original (larger) walkalong glider I built was from "Flying Models" magazine, January 2006 designed by David Aronstein (Dec 2004). The basic shape of my micro walkalong is the same, but I didn't intentionally copy geometries. However, I was certainly influenced by the original design and appreciate the article written by Larry Kruse.

When you print out the PDF, make sure you don't scale the document. Double check the printout with the horizontal and vertical scales provided.

--Jay

It's only had short glide testing, but I may get a chance to check it out tonight!

Originally Posted by JayFrancis

All the walkalongs seem to work better if they are trimmed to porpoise a little (or my technique isn't very good...).

Do you mean you want it to porpoise a little when it is gliding on its own? If it does that, then does it still porpoise when you are walking along with the slope board?

It porpoises a little if you test glide it by hand. It flies fine when using the cardboard (but this may be where the "technique" overrides a balance problem).

--Jay

Here's a look at Jay's technique. I suspect he is getting a lot more practice than the rest of us. I had a couple of short successes, but nothing like Jay's ability to turn the plane.

Here's a picture of my glider. Total working time was a bit over two hours, I think. I don't have a good scale, but my simple little balance shows it to be about 2 grams. The tissue looks a bit wrinkled, I'm not sure I got it tight enough.

What's the glide ratio supposed to be with these? I just tried tossing it from about 6 feet, and it glides only about 25 or 30 feet. It isn't porpoising at all. I might have the CG a little further back than shown in the plans.

Originally Posted by JayFrancis

All the walkalongs seem to work better if they are trimmed to porpoise a little (or my technique isn't very good...).

I have found the same improved glide ratio and maneuverability with a center of gravity further aft (glider porpoise a little on its own) with the X-Surfer model walkalong gliders. It is the basis for an advanced walkalong gliding technique. With the 50" Jumbo Walkalong Glider design an aftward cg greatly reduces its turning radius, making it possible to fly in much tighter spaces. I think the air rising over a paddle is not uniform and the tail is experiencing more lift than the wings, effecting a forward trim. If the glider flies the way you want without a paddle, it will be too far forward trimmed in the airflow of the paddle. You guys are making great progress on the learning curve!

Hey Jay, Mark, and all the others. If you want something that's slower and easier to fly in tight spaces, try making a tissue paper tumblewing as shown on Phil's site. I've had a fun time developing them, and properly made ones fly at a SLOW walk. No glue, no balsa framework, no clay or other ballast required! One rotating part. That's it. The biggest thing to remember is holding your air paddle at a steeper angle than you would for a glider, and the tumblewings are sensitive to turbulence, too(they fly much closer to the air paddle). A 5" span walkalong tumblewing can be turned around within a 5 ft hallway.

Hey Jay I figured out the password and log in!

X-surfer and Flyingwingbat1 : Thanks for the links and comments. The club is having fun with these gliders!

--Jay