Newbie & Paper Aeroplane Challenge.

Kev - a thinner wing section will allow the model to fly faster, not necessarily further. A fat rounded section is better for slower efficiency.
An undercambered (concave) underside to the wing will be more efficient than a flat one, while a Bi-camber (convex on both sides) will fly better upside down than either of the other two!
A sharp, pointy leading edge will stall earlier than a blunt round one.
It's all a question of compromise, deciding what you want to achieve with the aircraft.

Eric wrote: Kev - a thinner wing section will allow the model to fly faster, not necessarily further. A fat rounded section is better for slower efficiency.
An undercambered (concave) underside to the wing will be more efficient than a flat one, while a Bi-camber (convex on both sides) will fly better upside down than either of the other two!
A sharp, pointy leading edge will stall earlier than a blunt round one.
It's all a question of compromise, deciding what you want to achieve with the aircraft.

The new thinner and ribbed wing was not as good as the existing one and was very fiddly to make. As Eric says the fat rounded section is best.
But the project is a success thanks to this site and especially Eric.
You to can make a working glider from A4 and Sellotape, its really cheap, quick and is a great way to introduce kids to flight and modelling.

RedKev
Hey! Using drinking straws is changing the rules.
Nevertheless the concept of drinking straws is a good one so I did a bit of playing around with paper tubes and built half a wing to see how it would came out.

It has a paper tube spar however I must admit it is all glued (craft PVA) rather than taped.

It weighs 5.3g.
Now where are those drinking straws!

At these small sizes I doubt you will achieve a glide much better than 4:1 (40ft for 10ft drop) so your latest version is not bad.

I am going to video an out door flight as soon as the weather is good.
I shall post the result on here.
Maybe we can have a video contest.

Hi Kev, sorry about the late welcome but I'm still recovering form surgery so Poor Garry has had to take charge & I'm still catching up on missed posts.

Even something like a paper aeroplane is enough to get some of our members going ..... all the rules of aerodynamics still apply so this could be interesting.
I was talking on the phone to my son, (Mikey admin), about this thread, & I had the idea of rolling a piece of paper into a tube & using as an internal leading edge ... It looks like someone else had a similar idea. :lol:

You don't need to worry about getting any angle of incidence on the wing ... just taper the rear fuselage section into a cone & mount the tail onto the bottom half.
This will mean that there will automatically be a slight bit of "UP" elevator which is just the same thing.
All you have to do then is adjust the nose weight for a correct test glide.
This should happen with the center of gravity at about 33% of the way back from the LE.
Gentle launch slightly nose down & if it dives then it's nose heavy ... if it climbs, stops, stalls & drops its nose then it's tail heavy.
If this is still going when I'm fitter ... I might just build one. :woohoo:

Polyphilla.

Very interesting thread I got my A4 sheets out and wrote a letter and when I posted it it went miles,is this a record! :woohoo:

The Beard wrote: Very interesting thread I got my A4 sheets out and wrote a letter and when I posted it it went miles,is this a record! :woohoo:

Does not count unless it was sent by air mail.

Very good Graham,Ive just received a kit in the post ,well its a 4 page letter,,but no straws .a letter of complaint has been sent.

Took it out in a breeze (Beaufort 2) it was a disaster blown all over.
The control surfaces are too flexible for outdoor use (sob).

Have a video of it in the hallway on my computer and will post it as soon as Photobucket get their act together.



P.S. Postal distances only count if sealed with Sellotape_{.(see project definition)}

RedKev wrote:
Have a video of it in the hallway on my computer and will post it as soon as Photobucket get their act together.

I've found it easier to put them on youtube now & just paste the URL into here ... the forum does the rest.... you don't even have to click "Insert Link"
I don't make them public in youtube ... just visible wherever I post the link.

This will work with any youtube video you may wish to post.

www.modelchat.org.uk/forum/tutorials-how...-a-youtube-video#158

Pol.

Strange.
Keep getting Internet Explorer error messages on You Tube and Photobucket. Worked yesterday and I uploaded a pic on You Tube today.
Help.

RedKev wrote: Strange.
Keep getting Internet Explorer error messages on You Tube and Photobucket. Worked yesterday and I uploaded a pic on You Tube today.
Help.

This site hates internet Explorer ... as do a lot of sites ... Use Firefox or google chrome, ... especially for "live Chat"

Once I had Firefox loaded it was as if I had a new computer

U Tube video of poorly launched A4/Tape .

now a small electric motor.