Monte.C
...
It's an unanswered question that comes up for me now & again. Sure there's a lot of different types of designs that we build from foamboard - some heavier than others - but in the most general terms how does the airframe weight compare to something comparable in balsa/monokote?
I'm designing a little foamboard trainer inspired by the Lazy-Bee or Speedy-Bee (which I'm sure was a lot of the inspiration for Josh's Sportster).
Sure a balsa skeleton is stupid light, but it includes plywood components and stuff...
And I know we have loads more power available than we need for these planes, but for this one I'm wanting it to just float. I'm building it from foam either way, but I still want to know the weight comparison.
It might be something that scales funny too. Like, for a mini the weight to wingspan ratio might increase as you decrease plane size. I have a feeling FB scales this ratio harder than balsa.
Anyone have any thoughts on the topic?
Thanks.
I'm designing a little foamboard trainer inspired by the Lazy-Bee or Speedy-Bee (which I'm sure was a lot of the inspiration for Josh's Sportster).
Sure a balsa skeleton is stupid light, but it includes plywood components and stuff...
And I know we have loads more power available than we need for these planes, but for this one I'm wanting it to just float. I'm building it from foam either way, but I still want to know the weight comparison.
It might be something that scales funny too. Like, for a mini the weight to wingspan ratio might increase as you decrease plane size. I have a feeling FB scales this ratio harder than balsa.
Anyone have any thoughts on the topic?
Thanks.