Soooo,
on the weekend I finally found the time to test hand launch my "glider". And unfortunately it did not go very well. After some tweeks to the cg and some trimming I finally got it to glide - like a brick....
It seems I as so many before have underestimated the problem of using heavy foam board with the ft designs. Although I knew I had to enlargen the wingspan it was not nearly enough to bring the wing loading to a somewhat reasonable amount.
I might try Dan's proposition to build a longer nose and thus reduce the need for ballast there, but I doubt it will be sufficient. It's more likely that I will ripp out the electronics some day and build a powered ft model from it.
I don't think its feasible to build ft glider (!) designs with heavy foam board. If anyone has ever done it with a good result i'd very much like to see it!
I have learned a lot in the process though and it still was a lot of fun! I already have started another ft project (125% scout). If I ever need help there, I will open a different thread for that one.
on the weekend I finally found the time to test hand launch my "glider". And unfortunately it did not go very well. After some tweeks to the cg and some trimming I finally got it to glide - like a brick....
It seems I as so many before have underestimated the problem of using heavy foam board with the ft designs. Although I knew I had to enlargen the wingspan it was not nearly enough to bring the wing loading to a somewhat reasonable amount.
I might try Dan's proposition to build a longer nose and thus reduce the need for ballast there, but I doubt it will be sufficient. It's more likely that I will ripp out the electronics some day and build a powered ft model from it.
I don't think its feasible to build ft glider (!) designs with heavy foam board. If anyone has ever done it with a good result i'd very much like to see it!
I have learned a lot in the process though and it still was a lot of fun! I already have started another ft project (125% scout). If I ever need help there, I will open a different thread for that one.
