I am not too sure. . . . . It was rather foggy ( soˇK NO thermal for sure ) off the slope today and the wind was really weak so I flew my Highlight HLG ( I believe it's the equivalent of Omega in the US. info at http://www.euro- sailplanes.co.uk/uk/html/sport-hlg/highlight.htm ) thinking that my model is probably the only one that can stay aloft. Much to my amazement, my friendˇ¦s all-mold mini NYX ( http://www.euro- sailplanes.co.uk/uk/html/sport-hlg/mini-nyx.htm ) did equally well, may be even slightly better.
Both models are 1.5m in span and have similar wing area but my friendˇ¦s moldy is twice as heavy as my HLG. The fact that both models can stay aloft equally well makes me wonder whether weight is such a dominating factor in determining how floaty a glider is under weak-lift condition. I know the information given here is too rough and incomplete for any systematic analysis but if someone can suggest what MIGHT have counteracted the weight penalty of my friendˇ¦s moldy, I will appreciate it. I have came across the theory that up to a certain point, increasing the weight helps to increase the speed and hence the ˇ§Reynoldˇ¦s numberˇ¨ which is supposed to make the airfoil more efficient. To be honest, I have not done sufficient reading on aerodynamics to understand that theory well but I did try it out today by putting 10% more weight into my HLG but there was not any perceivable improvement. Having said that, the test was very rough so it really didnˇ¦t prove or disprove anything. If anyone has any ˇ§thumbs-onˇ¨ experience in this regard, I would like to hear about it. Thanks, Y C Lui RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
