Seth Jersild wrote: >>I'm wondering whether the total weight of the thicker wing (more wood, more glass, more glue etc.) is something worth thinking about for someone who wants things light.<<
The main difference between the AS5046 and the AS5048 is 1.7 inch or so of thickness (I'm too lazy to go look for the exact number). The spar caps are the same thickness, so the only structural weight difference is in the vertical spacers between spar caps and the thin plywood on both faces. It's literally a few ounces. Easy enough to calculate if you really want to know. The difference in fiberglass is going to be immeasurable. And given that you're going to be tapering from AS5048 to AS 5045 on the outer wings (I hope), you can cut the tiny weight gain in half. And if you're as serious as seem about weight reduction, you can make your spar caps thinner and reduce weight further over the AS5046 and still have the same strength, since the taller AS5048 would be something like 18% stronger due to the increased spar cap distance. You'll have to do a little homework on how much thinner you can make them, but the airfoil website at http://www.krnet.org/as504x/as5046inst.html mentions the exact number on it somewhere, or back at http://www.krnet.org/as504x/ . Checking those links show me that there are a lot of dead links there from my shift over to the new domain, so I'll try to remember to fix those tonight. >>I'd also be very interested if someone who has flown planes with both 5046 and 5048 airfoils could give me their subjective "general feel" impressions of any differences between the two (takeoff, climb, cruise, approach, stall etc.).<< I don't think you're going to find anybody that's done that. I'm having a hard time remembering if there's even one plane flying with the AS5048/45 yet, but there probably is or are. I think any difference will be minimal, and like you said, it'll be lost in the noise of other flight characteristics of the particular plane. Go for it! Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
