Yellow insulation foam zero

ed1972

New member
Hi,

I've finally built another plane, although it took 3 months and an apartment full of foam dust. And finally a real warbird!

I chose the zero because its wings, while rounded, are not ellipsoid, so you can hotwire cut them using 2 profiles (this time borrowed the work laser cutter) glued onto a foam block. The wing is overlong, then hand-sanded to correct rounded shape. Profile naca2315 root, 3312 tip, should be 3309 but i thought it was a bit flimsy in earlier versions.

I found hotwire cutting such a tapered wing incredibly difficult compared to previous squarish trainer wings.

I learned an interesting fact while checking the wingtip washout (which was already on the wiki plan). This seems to have been the plane which INVENTED washout. I'll see if someone tells me I'm wrong there.... Quite possibly

Lots of fiddling about trying to work out packaging battery etc, finally came up with a kind of "ft power pack", and then slid the radial engine cowl around it.
It came in at 350g, or 10ish oz, for an 85cm span.

Reading up on "wing cubic loading" in oz/ft3, the zero is somewhere in the 9.5 area. The hawker hurricane chinese kit next to it is a 15.0, at 325g. Actually thats quite close to the real thing at min. Flying weight if I'm not wrong. So the zero is really a "cheat easy warbird" with very low wingloading.

Anyway, the hurricane is a scary nightmare and lasted 2 flights before crashing diastrously, but the zero flies pretty nicely. Loops, rolls, a bit faster than my old trainer, but just the right step up to challenge my flying.

NOw a break from building i think, or try a less dusty building technique.... Just going to fly awhile
 

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