Long time ago I joined this challenge transforming a balsa plane into foam board. At first I had a little bit of problems with design because things didn’t come together well. So I printed out the plans took some transparent paper and start copying the design. I’ve been later took that and transferred it into adobe illustrator on the computer. After playing around with the design a bit things started to come along together and the build went well. I got to a point where I’m very happy with the build and the design but I’m just not happy with the way the model flys. Here is a short video of the maiden flight of the latest build I’ve done of this model which is also part of a
group build. Please watch the video and let me know what do you think why it’s not flying good well I can check what I can change, thank you.
Hey
@mayan just watched the video you linked. It appears to me that she flies with a tail-down attitude. This means one of three things: either she's tail heavy, the incidence angle of the wing and tail are set improperly, or the thrust angle needs adjustment.
Keep in mind the original full scale DGA-6 was designed around a massive (heavy) radial engine. That's one of the reasons the nose is so short. May be hard to balance with modern equipment without stretching the fuse a little bit.
I'm assuming you set the wing and tail incidence angles according to the original plans. Check them again though just to verify. A small shim, like a popsicle stick, or a single piece of foam under the leading edge of the wing may be all you need.
Finally thrust angle. She's a high wing, and so the motor is mounted below the wing. Powering up will create a torque moment around the center of lift, causing her to pitch up. With the nose as short as it is, you may need some more down thrust to counter this upward pitching tendency.
How does she glide with the power off? If she glides, stalls, then glides some more she's probably tail heavy. If she drops her nose with the power off it's likely thrust angle or incidence angle.
Good luck 🤞
.
