Midwest Aero-Star Inspired Swappable Trainer

[Wes Vasher]

The first RC plane I tried to build as a kid was an Aero-Star 0.40. After modeling it and sizing it for the FT Power Pod, it actually came out to almost exactly the same size as the Aero-Star 0.20. Here's what I have so far modeled up.

 

[Todd L]

I started out on the AeroStar .40. I got it for Christmas and spent the rest of my winter brake building it only to stare at it till spring. This is looking great!!

 

[Wes Vasher]

Thanks Todd. I decided to not make this first one swappable as I spent all the time on my Cherokee only the crash it quite a few times learning to fly. So I just mounted the motor to the fuselage for this one. Almost ready to fly.

I also simplified the design greatly to make it easier to build. Mounted the ESC on the "windshield" to help it stay cool.

 

[earthsciteach]

That is a GREAT looking airplane. Well done, sir!

Be careful of the stall characteristics of the wing. The "triangular" shape may cause an abrupt airflow separation at stall speeds. You might not get much warning (like the plane "mushing" and slow aileron reaction). Honestly, I don't know if this will be an issue, its just a thought I had. I'd take it up a few mistakes high and check the stall tendencies, maybe on the second or third flights.

 

[Wes Vasher]

Thanks for the tip earthsciteach. My last wing was an almost perfect airfoil which took a lot of work, so I thought I'd see how a super simple to build foam wing would work. We shall find out. I also thought about cutting out some of the under wing near the tips like David did with the FT Spitfire, but I don't really understand how that prevents tip stalling so I haven't looked into it yet.

This is a pretty interesting read though...
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14101

 

[Wes Vasher]

Made a modification to the wing, added front extensions to try and help with tip stalls. It might be too much, we'll see.

 

[quorneng]

That's an interesting wing modification.
Clearly you have built in some washout to the wing (the outer portion has a lower angle of attack) but you have to some degree negated the benefit by using a much 'sharper' leading edge radius which tends to promote the airflow to break away (stall) at a lower angle.
In general a well built 'plank' constant chord wing has fairly benign stall characteristics without needing any aerodynamic aids.

I suppose the question is did you fly the unmodified wing? Was the mod to cure a particular tip stall problem?

 

[Wes Vasher]

quorneng, I haven't flown it yet. I think I'll make a second wing with no washout and a rounder airfoil the compare. The nice thing about the foam is it's so easy to make wings.

 

[Wes Vasher]

Flew her today. It was my longest flight so far. In fact I didn't crash it, sort of. I got it up nice and high and did figure eight turns. The wing performed great. Overall it was super easy to fly and control. I nosed it down to get some airspeed and pulled back for a loop and the wings folded back. So next time more spar or struts. Banking and yanking for the turns was super easy.