Designs

[eta150]

I didn't know where to put this, but is there an especially safe way to transport planes to and from competition?

[jander14indoor]

In a STURDY box, gently tied down so nothing is loose, and with NOTHING heavy in the box unless it is SOLIDLY tied down.

Its ugly what a winder loose in your box can do to a wing.

I use a long lawyers file box with foam rubber glued inside and cutouts to hold the plane parts.

Now,its convenient to have everything together so some like to have their flight log, repair kit (you do take a repair kit with you flying, don't you?), winder, extra rubber, etc so nothing is left back at your school or team room on the day of the tournament. I think its better to develop good personal discipline and keep a seperate flight box for the heavy stuff, but... So if you have to have one box, make sure NOTHING is loose.

I've heard and seen many horror stories about plane boxes being sat on and destroyed, so consider this when I say sturdy. Some teams use 1/4 inch plywood boxes with reinforced corners. On the other hand, I've been using the same cardboard box for my SO demo planes for 10 years now around hundreds (if not thousands) of kids with no damage (to the box, no comment on the parent who got too close to my plane!). Your plane, your choice.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[eta150]

I was using an extremely sturdy plywood box, but my new plane "outgrew" it. I'm using a large plastic roller box with the plane loosely attached by velcro straps. My wing in in a different box with slightly padded sides, and my supplies are all in a totally different toolbox. Does this sound safe enough?

[gh]

I used a box shipped to me by Online Metals. One of the things I ordered was a 1ft by 2ft sheet of aluminum. The box that it came in fit it perfectly and was about 1ft tall. I never got around to using the sheet, so I left it at the bottom of the box and used the now aluminum-floored box for carrying my WS planes.

[SOCoach]

Can anyone speak to the lowered tail boom design? I've seen a few of them, but never noticed much of a difference in flight times between those and the horizontal tail booms. I suppose it goes back to how well built the plane is making more of a difference than the design??

[calgoddard]

See my January 28, 2010 post in this thread above.

I recall that Jeff Anderson's demo plane at Nationals last year had a drooping tail boom. See the photo of his plane in the Image Gallery.

Maybe Jeff can tell us if he thought it improved the performance under last year's WS rules.

[blue cobra]

When you say a drooping boom, do you mean that the the whole tail boom angles down relative to the motor stick, or that your horizontal stabilizer is mounted underneath the tail boom?

[jander14indoor]

There are folks who swear by drooped tail booms, I'm not one.

I do like low tail, high wing, but have no empirical data to back up any significant benefit. The only seeming benefit I've found is the plane seems more stabile.

I don't think it makes much difference drag wise whether you droop the tail to lower the rear stab, or use long tail posts. I suspect the drooped tail is better balance wise, avoids the long, heavy tail posts at the very rear of the plane, and replaces it with a slightly longer tail boom with its mass distributed evenly along the length.

There is fairly certainly no aerodynamic difference between drooping the tail and long tail posts (other than that affect on CG).

All-in-all, I suspect any effect is a far, far secondary factor in long flights. FAR behind minimizing weight, trim for low drag, and and proper matching of prop and rubber.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[Taran]

Is the bonus worth trying?

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Wright Stuff
Meteorology
Can't Judge a Powder

[eta150]

That's up to you. If you can make it work within this years much more generous bonus, then it's great, but you can only find that out through building one and flying one yourself.