Mini KeilKraft "Comet"

Phillip Ford wrote: Doggers in St Georges Park? Ferndown Area is going down hill.

Phil - Dog Walkers , not Dogging,
that usually takes place ( so I'm
told ) in wooded areas like the
New Forest.
Dogs in Ferndown are very clever
putting their own waste in little
black bags and taking it home.

Colin

Sunday 21st Feb looked promising very light wind and no rain forecast so after lunch we went to Parley park for the maiden flight.A number of hand launches determined a tiny bit of extra lead was needed on the nose.Now for the catapult launch, climbed up well but did not transition at the top of the climb into level flight , great spot landing !Work now needed to sort out transition, trimming tabs to be added then model can be trimmed out.3 Pics attached - 4th pic on next entry.Colin.

Last pic - " Spot Landing "

Colin

Finally your released from lockdown

Chuck glider trim. You didn't say how far the Comet went Colin, hope you got lots of exercise. One trick I remember from long ago is to sand the fin/rudder to an airfoil section. This "lifts" the tail round without much drag. I saw from your photo of the launch that the model was held level. The trick is to trim the model to fly (for example) in left hand circles. With the fin sanded to an airfoil section to induce this, launch the glider with the wings vertical i.e tilt the model 90 degrees to the right, with the nose pointing upwards at about 45 degrees. The resulting launch should result in a rapid climb up and to the right, ending with levelling out and gently turning left. My very last chuck glider was called "Turbo Kid", a design by a member of the BMAS, Ted Horsley , it was trimmed as described. On a warm Sunday afternoon at Beaulieu, I hand launched it as hard as I could, cross wind so that the level out would be into wind, it picked up a thermal, stayed in sight for about ten minutes, and was never seen again. Perhaps trimming for performance isn't such a good idea after all.

As it appears that we won't be up the field this month I better get on with some DIY just jobs. During spells of waiting for paint to dry I think I will design and cut out a chick glider too. I have a fair bit of balsa sheet laying around. Is there any need for some dihedral?

I’d be interested in seeing your “chick” glider Phil. Hopefully it will fly as well as lay an egg

Simon Osborne wrote: I’d be interested in seeing your “chick” glider Phil. Hopefully it will fly as well as lay an egg

It probably will....:lol:

Sorry Colin we seem to have digressed.

I hav fond som plons 4 a Chick Mustank (This sounds like Allo Allo!) and scaled them up to 22 inch wingspan or the length of two A4 sheets end to end. it was originally designed for foam board, what I ain't got so balsa it will be. My Zip file below

Brian Jackson wrote: Chuck glider trim. You didn't say how far the Comet went Colin, hope you got lots of exercise. One trick I remember from long ago is to sand the fin/rudder to an airfoil section. This "lifts" the tail round without much drag. I saw from your photo of the launch that the model was held level. The trick is to trim the model to fly (for example) in left hand circles. With the fin sanded to an airfoil section to induce this, launch the glider with the wings vertical i.e tilt the model 90 degrees to the right, with the nose pointing upwards at about 45 degrees. The resulting launch should result in a rapid climb up and to the right, ending with levelling out and gently turning left. My very last chuck glider was called "Turbo Kid", a design by a member of the BMAS, Ted Horsley , it was trimmed as described. On a warm Sunday afternoon at Beaulieu, I hand launched it as hard as I could, cross wind so that the level out would be into wind, it picked up a thermal, stayed in sight for about ten minutes, and was never seen again. Perhaps trimming for performance isn't such a good idea after all.

Brian - Thanks for your comments - I've watched a couple of videos - searched " Catapult Glider Trimming " which were informative.
With a hard level hand launch my model glided in a straight line with a gentle descent so C.G was about right.
When launched with the catapult it climbed in a straight line till it ran out of energy then promptly stalled and did a great spot landing !!!
In the video they glued a "wash in" "wedge" to the left wing to induce a left turn together with a bit of left rudder.
I would guess that I need the model to roll left in the climb so it can transition into a gentle left glide - am I on the right lines ?
Thanks
Colin.

Phillip Ford wrote:

Simon Osborne wrote: I’d be interested in seeing your “chick” glider Phil. Hopefully it will fly as well as lay an egg

It probably will....:lol:

Sorry Colin we seem to have digressed.

I hav fond som plons 4 a Chick Mustank (This sounds like Allo Allo!) and scaled them up to 22 inch wingspan or the length of two A4 sheets end to end. it was originally designed for foam board, what I ain't got so balsa it will be. My Zip file below

Phil - In answer to previous question you will need dihedral - on "Comet" main wings have 5 degrees & tips 25 degrees, looking at your files they show
a dihedral template.
Look forward to following the " Build "

Colin.