Historicaly, gap seals have been used in applications where air is getting through a flying surface from one side of the wing to the other, thus interupting the boundry layer on that side and causing drag. With your piano hinges that are on the KR ailerons, I don't think enough air can get through them to make gap seals very effective. Bobby
> I have installed gap seals on my KR-2 a couple of years ago and have seen > no > noticeabled difference in performance. I am considering taking them off. > The > gap seals cause more mechanical friction on the aileron rigging and that I > don't need. Also the wing is easier to handle when off the plane without > the > seals. Follow the plans when building. > > > > -Joe > > > > > > > > Message: 6 > > Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 22:16:10 -0500 > > From: "Mark Langford" <n5...@hiwaay.net> > > Subject: KR> flying > > To: "KRnet" <kr...@mylist.net> > > Message-ID: <001c01c670bb$6cc93a00$2802a8c0@2600xp> > > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; > > reply-type=original > > > > NetHeads, > > > > I've been doing a little bit of flying myself. Considering we were > > surrounded by thunderstorms, yesterday was a pretty smooth flying day. I > > got in about 3 hours, first doing climbs, glides, and stalls, then adding > > gap seals and repeating the process. Bottom line is that I could tell no > > appreciable difference in climb rate (and I have some pretty accurate > data, > > gathered while maintaining 95mph in each climb, plus or minus a mph or two > > either way). Stall speed might have dropped a mph or two. Top speed > > appears to have improved slightly. I'll have to dig up the E6B to find > out > > exactly how much, but it's not much. I attribute this to the care I > > exercised fairing the ailerons and split flaps into the wing (details near > > the bottom of http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford/owings.html ). Building > > ailerons per the plans yields a big fat gap at the bottom and that begs > for > > > gap seals. One odd thing is that the stalls are now preceeded by some > > noticeable buffeting, which is new, and I'd swear it climbs with less > > fuselage angle and lands easier (I greased about 5 in a row at FYM), but > > these are probably my imagination. > > > > I'm up to 519 KR "landings" (and still only on the second set of tires!) > and > > > 210.9 hours of KR time (sorry, Larry). Maybe I'll get some more in > > tomorrow, as I plan to buzz up to MRC to visit Troy Petteway, a 20 minute > > flight... > > > > _______________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp > to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html >
