Hi Tom, There has been a lot of talk recently about 2Meter gliders and of the disadvantages they have verses open class gliders. At times, do to conditions, a 2M is at a disadvantage but I have flown my 2M against open class planes and won. As I recall, 2 years ago a 2m plane beat everyone at Visalia and that was against the best around. We fly a 2M class at about every contest we hold and they fly the same times and landings as the open planes. come to our field and my brother and i will fly our 2M's against your open's any time. Thermals, Art
Tom Koszuta wrote: > From an "ease of flying" standpoint a poly is smuch easier to circle in > lift (see the MA article on dihedral). Light, two meter gliders have > certain advantages, the most obvious is that min sink is usually lower. > Large birds have an overal efficiency advantage because the Reynolds numbers > are higher and the higher aspect ratio tends to reduce drag. I fly a two > meter scratch design with TWO channels and have done well enough in the lift > conditions in Western New York to beat the big boys or at least place well. > Our club, however, does not use the 100 point tape. We usually have a > landing circle that is in or out at about 10 feet radius. Lift is NOT > guaranteed at our field, so 3 maxes of 10 minutes is not typical. You can > place well or even win in our contests with three 9 minute flights and a > couple of "in" landings. It helps a little that my 2M is about 9 oz/sqft, > so I do have some range to play with. > > You will run into the limitation of a fixed camber bird when you need a > really wide envelope in speed characteristics, like in F3B type > competitions. I designed my 2 meter with an S3021 to take advantage of > the low sink characteristics. I also designed my wing with enough wooden > spar to take 35# of line tension without flinching, so I can launch more > like the moldies. It's fun to zoom a poly when the guys with $900 planes > are watching. This is from the experience of a folded Spirit. I make up > for the speed range by being able to go up in lighter lift. > > I have a 2.9 M full-house that I just cannot get to do well over flat > land. There is no doubt that I could launch it higher and get an overall > better l/d out of it. I can just fly the 2M poly better, so I stick with my > experience. The aileron, full camber adjusting bird just is not as > forgiving as the 2M, so I take the good with the bad. Lower overall > efficiency for the sake of being able to hook lighter lift and stay with it > a while, even in moderately windy conditions. > > Bottom line is to fly what you are best at flying on contest days and > accept that you may give up range or launch height to the moldies with the > knowlege that you can work lighter, narrower lift than they can. > > BTW, I am going to redo some wings for a molded 2M fuse over the winter > with flaps and ailerons so that I can get closer to the expensive moldie > performance. It will, no doubt, take more practice so that I can make it > outperform a poly. Everything is a trade off. Large spans are better, but > they cannot circle in a 15 or 20 foot thermal to climb out. Smaller planes > can, but if the lift is all 100 feet across, then your advantage goes away. > Flapped planes can, in general, come in at slower speeds and ailerons are > more responsive, even at low speeds, than a yaw coupled roll. You can > still do better if you fly smoother and climb better because of lower min > sink, which the 2M polys are really good at. If range is the need of the > day, then you will probably not do as good. If every one is making maxes, > then it becomes a landing contest and the poly has a slight disadvantage. > Consider taking a couple of planes to the contest and deciding on one over > the other based on prevailing conditions and forecast. > > I like polys. I went out of my way to reduce the advantage that the > zooming moldies inherently have in launch height. I can fly it well, now > that I am used to the new plane. Fly what you like and minimize your > disadvantages and maximize your advantages. > > If you have a large, full house, then fly it in your fun flying. You > need to be comfortable with the plane and know how to take advantage of its > capabilities and work around the disadvantages. > > Tom Koszuta > Clarence Sailplane Society > (Buffalo) NY > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dean Jansa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 2:17 PM > Subject: Re: [RCSE] Just a Flying Contest (2m) > > All good points, I just take issue on your last point, you don't > *have* to fly unlimited moldies with digital servos, you can fly what > ever you want. You *want* to fly unlimited moldies with digital > servos (I presume because you want to be competitive). > I fly a 30 dollar scratch built Terminator and I have fun. Am > I going to win that HL contest? Probably not, but I have a hoot > tossing it around. (Even if yesterday my best was 41 seconds.) Like > you said, ego has a lot to do with it. I like the challange of staying > up with my low tech bird, and love to watch it circle in lift, matters > little if its a $400 or $40 airframe. They are all fun to fly. > > => Again... just the opinions of a guy who likes 2m, liked XC and > => standard class, but flies unlimited moldies with digital servos > => because he has to. > => > => Tom Siler > => Columbus, OH > => > => RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" > and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > => > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and > "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and >"unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
