The Eagle was a nice model in it's day. The basic design is the same vintage as the Ellipse 1T. Fortunately for Joe and Daryl, they were better at setting up the model and Joes understanding of launch mechanics was better than the Europeans. The Ellipse 2V is probably a better model. By that time, Joe was flying modified Eagles that had some tip extensions to improve distance performance.
Now you have awesome launches that don't look as awesome because of the bigger models and 14 second speed runs that don't look fast because of the bigger models. With no lift, the Eagle could easily do 16, 17 laps in distance. Ellipse 1T's could do 16, 2V's could do 17, Cobras (now old technology) could do 18. Current models are in the 19-20 range. >From what I have heard about the last WC site, it really didn't demonstrate some of the speeds and laps that the new models are capable of doing. It was a large, cool patch of green surrounded by brown. Kind of kills lift closer to the launch area. The RG15 still works pretty well. Especially for less experienced pilots. If you screw up your attitude in speed with an MH32 model, or a HQ/W model and have to push down elevator, you can watch the drag go up and see the model really slow down. The RG15 was more tolerant of those kind of mistakes. The extra $$$ comes from building all carbon models. Lightweight carbon cloth is expensive. It you could get lighter carbon cloth for the skins, the models could be even lighter, but who knows what they could cost then. Wing stiffness in bending and torsion does make a difference on launch and in flight. > LesandGypsy Stockley wrote: > > Was talking with some people at our Nats the other week and we > starting talking about how the RG15 is still a good F3B airfoil, then > we got onto the latest designs and the performance you could expect > from them. I started wondering if we really have come a long way > since the early '90's when the F3B Eagle reigned supreme. Joe Wurts > visited us down here in NZ and showed us 16 second speed runs and > awesome launches that I doubt are being bettered by much today. With > the launch heights available the 10 minute duration task shouldnt be a > great problem. > So, why are we flying larger models with higher cambered airfoils and > a seemingly higher $$$$ value (especially when you try to freight to > NZ, $300-400 is not uncommon) when the models of nearly 10 years ago > have the same or similar performance??? > Any ideas or reasoning out there, Daryl, Joe????? What am I missing > here????? > Cheers, Les. > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]