Hi all, >From: "Douglas, Brent" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Without going into this too much, the best link I have for flying wings >is www.aerodesign.de - hint, it's in German. >Good list of ships used for F3J/B applications - also some great looking >electric flying wing designs. I tried one of the constant chord designs >as a sloper, and it worked very well.
Thanks for that, I've been there. I was really looking for someone who's actually flown something like a CO7, since flight reports are few and far between. >From: Daryl Perkins [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Doubtful you'll never see one for either of these tasks. You can't set them up to launch effectively. >D The few flight reports that are available for the CO7 talk of it being able to outlaunch Ellipses and V-Ultras, so with proper setup they should be okay. http://www.glide.net.au/flyingwing/co7.htm Those aren't current competition models, but they were in the CO7's day. Don't know if things have changed to the point where a wing wouldn't be competitive anymore, but I don't think anyone really knows on this (NA) side of the pond. There are (or used to be) whole F3B competitions in Germany specifically for wings, but I never heard anything about them, or if they're still going on. The catch 22 seems to be that since few people are interested in such wings, there aren't many being flown. Since that small group of pilots doesn't contain a member who flies at the very top level of the sport, wings don't get exposure and there isn't any demand for them by the general population. No demand, no availability. Or they just aren't competitive enough and this whole line of questioning is moot. Of course, it could also be that Zagi's and their ilk are so annoying that a whole generation of pilots has such a low opinion of wings that they try to mentally block them out at every chance :) >From: John Derstine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Here is one contender, several are in the works here in the U.S. and it >has been rumored that they will be used for TD work as an experiment. At >7 pounds, hey are not specifically designed for this, but as a high >performance aerobat and thermal ship. >http://www.scalesoaring.net/EMM/Taborca.htm Sorry John, several Taborca's or several different designs? The Taborca looks like a nice model, but like you mention, it's really too heavy to be too competitive in either TD or F3J events. Take 2.5 lbs out and it might very well be, I don't know. That's actually one of the bigger issues I have with the available information. All the "F3J" designs I've seen so far aren't nearly strong enough to actually survive an F3J tow, and they all tend to be fairly crude structurally (6 oz plain weave carbon and 3 oz glass with a shear web, or layups of that nature). As a result, they're also very heavy for their size. Since I'm told that wings tend to behave like a conventional model that weighs 20% less, it's even more critical to engineer them properly. I think it would be very doable to engineer a wing that weighs 20% less than one with a conventional tail, but it leads me to believe that the effort in doing so might not really be worth it. That said, I don't know that for sure, and don't plan to give up flying "normal" F3X models for the time being. >From: Bill Swingle [EMAIL PROTECTED] >The comments that I've been told regarding tailless wings for thermal flying is that the performance >is reasonably good. The Tailless performance is quite doable and is being perfected. >However, I've been told that thermal flyers find it difficult to fly a plane well without the visual >indicator of a tail. I can definitely see visibility as a concern, but if it's just a matter of getting used to something that looks different (but the performance gain is there), I could work around it. Again, purely a theoretical exercise at this point, but it never hurts to learn something new. Thanks, Adam -------------------------------------------------------- >From: "James V. Bacus" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >You can speak for yourself here, but please don't speak for me. I don't >feel the same way. Wasn't trying to Jim, just a thought tacked onto the end of another post. I thought I'd actually gone out of my way to say that everyone was entitled to their own opinion, and I believe that. Members can use the list however they like. >From: Adam Till Cal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >"Members can do what they like when it comes down to it..." 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.
