Gaining Altitude

[Sciencevale]

Weve been trying to come up with multiple plane desighns but none have been working well enough to gain the desired height. All our plane desighns have been too tip heavy and we've been tryng to fix that but nothing works. Do you guys have any ideas?

[a boy]

First, you need to make your plane as close to minimum weight as possible. If you aren't using a kit, it is a bit harder to build a lifting wing. You should research airfoils. Basically, you want your wing to have some curve in it, and for the leading edge of the wing (side facing front of plane) to be slightly higher than the trailing edge (side facing tail of plane).

[jander14indoor]

Give us some more details of your plane and we can critique it meaningfully. Without that, hard to say why it isn't climbing.

As already said, weight is CRITICAL in this event.
Basic layout is important too. There's reason why most planes look similar, the basic layout is needed for stability.
Maximum lift area. Your wing and tail should be JUST under the max size allowed. Actual shape of the airfoil isn't too critical. You can make a flat plate wing fly just fine. Maybe not tournament winning, but better than you'd think.
Are you WINDING your motors, if seen many capable plans perform poorly because the team didn't understand the importance of proper HARD winding.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[Sciencevale]

I'm unfamiliar with the term "hard winding". What do you mean by that?

[Sciencevale]

Also, are motors from kits windable, or are you refering to the rubberband? Do you have to buy a certain motor for it to be windable if so?

[Unome]

Also, are motors from kits windable, or are you refering to the rubberband? Do you have to buy a certain motor for it to be windable if so?

motor = rubber band as far as I know.

[Sciencevale]

Ok thank you!

[bernard]

Also, are motors from kits windable, or are you refering to the rubberband? Do you have to buy a certain motor for it to be windable if so?

motor = rubber band as far as I know.

Yes, the motor is a band of rubber, but not any rubber band. Tan Super Sport rubber (provided in Freedom Flight kits) is better for winding and efficient energy storage. It's difficult to put as many winds in office rubber bands.

[jander14indoor]

Hard winding just means to wind your motor (rubber band) to near breaking so it is storing as much energy (fuel to maintain flight) as it can.
It is also necessary to wind hard so you have enough torque to spin the prop fast enough to provide enough thrust to accelerate the plane to a speed where the lift overcomes the weight and the plane climbs.

Side note, Tan Super Sport is made by FAI Model Supply (www.faimodelsupply.com) and you can buy it directly from there. You can buy a pound 1/4 lb of 3/32 rubber for $9 plus shipping, enough for 70+ motors. Means you either have to find (or buy) someone to strip it to custom widths to match your prop, or find a prop that matches the rubber. Make sure you have enough so you aren't afraid to break your motors.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[blind_bandit24_16]

Usually when we wind the plane (which has been with office rubber bands), it flies very fast. Is this because of the type of rubber band we are using, or not enough drag?