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Hello Everyone,
I created a design that is a little unconventional. It’s been very successful and has become a true rival of the AMA Cub as a beginner and workshop project. If you check out the site you can see a video of me building one in LESS THAN 10 MINUTES.
It’s called a Squirrel and is featured at http://www.rubber-power.com.
As you can see it uses winglets for roll stability instead of dihedral. Not only does it simplify construction, it works better than dihedral.
I made a new version of the Squirrel that has only one winglet. I wanted to stack the model (put lots of them in a box) so I not only cut one winglet out I took out 1/2 the horizontal stabilizer. Both the motor sticks and the fuselage can now stack and I can fit many in a shoebox. http://www.rubber-power.com/News.htm
So here’s my question.
What are the arguments for which side the single winglet should be on? What about which side the horizontal stabilizer?
Food for though. I’m very interested to hear the different opinions on it.
Darcy Whyte
I’m betting that it will fly best with both the winglet and horizontal stab positioned so that they fight the torque.
Any thoughts?
I’ve got one comment from Don Ross suggesting that the winglet go on the left.
I’m supposing that the one sided stab will act like stab tilt?
So which side should that be on?
I’m leaning towards having the winglet and horizontal stab on the left. (No pun intended! hahahah)
Comments?
Any designers out there?
Here’s a video of flight with a left winglet:
http://www.rubber-power.com/How-to-fly-a-rubber-band-poweredl-airplane.htm
I built and flew one. It does very well. I am planning on using the design to work with kids if we ever succeed in getting something going at our church.
As to your questions, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to opinions offered online unless I had seen the actual plane fly myself. Go ahead and try the various configurations, you will end up with more experience on the subject than most people who might respond.
If we build a fleet of squirrels, I will be glad to report back to you on what we have observed.Nice to hear that you gave the design a whirl and it is flying well.
Feel free to send me pictures, videos, comments and feedback.
If you get kids going, they like to see their pictures at the official Squirrel Web site http://www.rubber-power.com in the Gallery.
They can also show of their parents and stuff.
I didn’t understand your comment about actually seeing it fly.
Do you mean seeing this http://www.rubber-power.com/How-to-fly-a-rubber-band-powered-airplane.htm is what was necessary to get you to try a Squirrel?
No, what I meant was that if you really want to know what will happen with various configurations, just go ahead and do it and see how it goes. Your own observations are worth more than opinions from others on the web.
Oh, I see what you mean.
Actually, I’m doing a lot of testing both in workshop environments and it outdoor environments.
But I was hoping someone would say something enlightening. 🙂
I’m hedging towards having the left winglet as the standard side because it may work against the torque. In the case of the L-Tail, I’m not sure which side to put it on.
http://www.rubber-power.com/How-to-fly-a-rubber-band-powered-airplane.htm
Actually, it’s hard to get these guys to comment on starter models. The list is mostly composed of fliers who are quite experienced and knowledgeable. They are mostly focused on more advanced types. Don’t get discouraged, keep on truckin’, and eventually, you will get answers to all your questions. If I can be of any help, let me know.
I think the design is of interest to people who are sharing their hobby outside of the established group. (Not to mention the new people themselves).
If you stroll through the gallery at http://www.rubber-power.com/Gallery04.htm you’ll see that most of the enthusiasts are involved with friends and family that are new to model aviation.
I’ve added more pictures and videos (of my own and submissions from around the world) to the site.
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