Wavy glider wings - baking results

From: Bruce McCrory <bruce_at_kbdmcc.net>
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 04:57:46 -0000

Mrs. Scrouge stole my mouse Saturday, so now I'm posting results of
my
wavy wings experiment with the steam iron (oven). I posted 3 photos
in
the files under a new "Gliders" folder and "Misc. Stuff" a few
minutes
ago.

This is the intended Cat. 2 design. Wood is about 4.5lb, (a/b)-grain
with ray angle leaning aft at base. I hate first time "success"; but
is probably not so. Read on. The steam bath exaggerated the waves.
Very
little was accomplished with the wing panels after I released them
from
the press. I rubbed, but they seem to like the shown shape. I was
able
to curl the root end to match the central dip. The two are a pretty
close match.

The bath plumped the TE about .004", and made the flap very stiff. 6g
to 7 grams of loading will flex the curl slightly, before the whole
panel twists. I'm reworking the sanding block. A better thickness may
be about .012" through the last inch, or so.

Kurt, and Bill, I do have your followups to my question, and am
jumping
ahead. Your tips and thoughts are encouraging. My assumption is:
these
flaps should be fairly flexible, flattening on launch, then tucking.
Math beyond basic addition will return a glazed, dumb look, so I'll
just use my standard empirical approach. The model will be
approximately 2 grams; therefore, the flaps should flatten at
slightly
more load on a digital scale.

Good building,
Bruce in Seattle
Received on Mon Dec 19 2005 - 20:58:40 CET