>I want to put a ballast box in the Oly. I've not done one before.
>What I'm thinking about is making a balsa compartment under the wing
>saddle at the CG. The ballast will be bags/containers of lead shot
>that will go in this ballast box. The Oly has a weight of 40 oz and
>a wing loading of 6 oz/ft^2. What wing loadings should I ballast
>for? I'm thinking 6oz/, 9oz/ and 12oz/.
On the Olympic-II, the Airtronics adjustable towhook is shown on the
plans. I finished a 13 year building project (my Oly-II from high
school) this year and used that towhook. Buddy Roos explained that
he also used that towhook on his Olympic-II years ago. He put long
bolts in place of the short ones that hold the towhook channel to the
plane. Noting the space between the two bolts that extended into the
fuselage below the wing, he drilled holes in sheet steel. This
became his ballast system for the Olympic. The steel was centered on
the center of gravity before marking and drilling. Sheets were
approximately 1/8" thick and 2" wide. Each was marked with its
weight and could be combined.
I took advantage of Buddy's having them in his toolbox at Mid-South
this year. Winds were high, and I just had my Olympic-II. We used
them to ballast up by 18 ounces (even then, my flights were pretty
much in reverse with only one turn...final).
>Wing surgery: on the Oly, I need to go into the center-sheeted part
>of the wing and strengthen the spars and tighten up the wing joiner
>rod tubes. I wonder if I need to remove and replace _all_ the
>center sheeting, or if I can just cut "access windows" in the
>sheeting near the spars, and patch those openings when done. The
>center sheeting will be 'glassed, so the ultimate strength of the
>sheeting is secondary.
I put CF-tow on the spar caps top and bottom full length. I'm glad
that I did since the ballasted launches in high winds probably put
max stress on the wings.
See the "Kit Modifications" area of the Charles River Club's website
for more ideas.
- David
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and
"unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
