I have an original design slope plane with a single taper rg-14 wing that originally had a tip design that rounded back from the leading edge to end at a point on the trailing edge, very much like what you typically see on a lot of electric hotliner type planes these days. The airplane flew fine in a good wind, but in lighter winds it was a disaster. It would tip stall violently, and recovery would often just lead to another stall. Well, the tip stall behavior resulted in a crash one day that ended up taking off one wing tip completely. (The tip was attached to the end of a foam core wing that had a square outboard edge.) I decided right then and there to deliberately remove the other wing tip right at the field. I now had a wing with plain square tips. I tossed it back out and the tip stall was completely cured! Back at the shop I attached small squared of wood tips to protect the exposed foam at the ends of the wings. I did bevel these tips so that the top span of the wing tip was about 1/4 inch greater than the bottom span. I have read somewhere that this kind of beveled tip is more efficient drag wise than a straight up and down tip. Anyway, the plane is now a joy to fly, and even on those days when the winds are light and you have to "milk it" to keep the airplane flying, it shows no bad habits whatsoever.
I guess the moral of the story is that there may be more important considerations when designing a wing tip than just reducing drag. A draggy wing that keeps flying is better than a wing that very efficiently keeps falling out of the sky!! :) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.317 / Virus Database: 176 - Release Date: 1/21/2002 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
