Hello, and thanks for letting me on the forum.
My question is basically the title. I'm building one of those infamous "pizza box" fliers (a square piece of foam with a motor, elevons, and a vertical stabilizer).
One of the issues that led to today's fatal crash was it kept on trying to pitch up and stall. My 2 solutions are: Moving the motor to be more in line with the middle instead of above like high-wing aircraft (they tend to pitch up violently with throttle, making it a mid-wing is probably easier than playing with thrust angles), and shifting CG more forwards (20%). Part of idea for the second solution is downgrading from 4 to 3 channels, by going elevons only and not using a rudder. Strakes that are along the length of the wing will concentrate less mass at the back, thereby shifting the CG forwards.
So are strakes with a large enough area a viable substitute for a vertical tail fin? Is there something I'm missing about the aerodynamics?
My question is basically the title. I'm building one of those infamous "pizza box" fliers (a square piece of foam with a motor, elevons, and a vertical stabilizer).
One of the issues that led to today's fatal crash was it kept on trying to pitch up and stall. My 2 solutions are: Moving the motor to be more in line with the middle instead of above like high-wing aircraft (they tend to pitch up violently with throttle, making it a mid-wing is probably easier than playing with thrust angles), and shifting CG more forwards (20%). Part of idea for the second solution is downgrading from 4 to 3 channels, by going elevons only and not using a rudder. Strakes that are along the length of the wing will concentrate less mass at the back, thereby shifting the CG forwards.
So are strakes with a large enough area a viable substitute for a vertical tail fin? Is there something I'm missing about the aerodynamics?