Scales for a flying glider fleet

[mbauer]

Originally Posted by ReynoldsSlumber

And the 1/200 Western Pacific Simpsons 737-300 is done! It glides rather nicely, slower than the Skyhawk at ~15 ft/s and with a shallower glideslope. The higher aspect ratio wings certainly help. It's still heavier than I'd like, though at this small of a scale, it's well nigh impossible to rectify the scale speed of ~2000 mph (!), so I'm satisfied with it.

As anticipated, the wing-body fairing put up a fight in trying to get all the edges to close up while also aligning to the graphics on the fuselage. It's gonna bug me a bit that it ended up 1/32" forward of where it should be on the body; so it goes! I did trim off the trailing edge that had overlap graphics for Homer's collar, 'cuz that just wasn't matching up. Good news is that, though the finished fairing is easy to deform, it springs right back, it's sufficiently stiff at this small of a size, and I didn't have to drastically modify the wing surfaces to carry through the fuselage for structure. Again the flexibility is actually nice for crash resistance—which I've already put to the test a couple times, with no damage.

This is the smallest wing chord that seems practical to make to fly well with decent scale model aesthetics. Going back to the original post on this thread, the 1/200 scale is a consequence of putting the 737 in the same category as the widebodies in this series. I'm a little concerned about how skinny the XB-70's fuselage will be at this scale but will give it a go at some point later. The alternative would've been to make the widebodies huge at 1/160 or else make an intermediate fourth scale category for the narrowbodies and bombers, which I'm trying to avoid. If it still ends up too small, perhaps I could make revisit some of the planes in this category at 1/180 instead of making the jump to the more standard 1/160. In any case, this model resolves my worry that accurate scale papercraft gliders can't be reliably made to fly well. It is indeed feasible!

Speaking of scale, on this prototype, it's funny how they had to draw Marge smaller than the other characters just to fit her hair, even though she's on the vertical tail.

Great to read it flies well! Like the construction photos, great detail on how you make them.

Weight is the real issue with paper, it is rather heavy when compared to other materials. Read somewhere for model making it is like scale sheet metal for the strength and weight.

Great to see how you're doing what you set out to accomplish! Looking forward to the next project.

Mike

[yankeekilo]

A long time ago, I put together a Vickers Viscount in 1.100. I left it at the school, and one of the instructors took it and threw it to fly, and amazingly, it did! I like your thread a lot, and I think that as long as aerodynamics weight, balance, and CG are correct, paper models will always fly.

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Good point on the sheet metal comparison, sounds about right on a strength-to-weight basis. Guess I need to go "thinner gauge." Or come up with "honeycomb panels," as in the foam sandwich that we were talking about before. Speaking of honeycomb panels, I've actually been looking for a source of honeycomb core cardboard (instead of corrugated), which is apparently common in Europe, though I haven't found anything thinner than like 1/4". Plus, to make something contoured, the honeycomb core would need to be separate and then assembled to the face sheets. Tricky!

Have you run across Flite Test's Master Series? To make those kits, they found a designer who adapted sheet metal forming techniques to foam core board. They don't sell plans of Master Series kits, unfortunately for my downscaling desires—they only sell foam board kits.

Thanks especially for the encouragement, Mike and everyone. Who says we had to outgrow show & tell? Too fun.

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Lucky that the Viscount has those loooong engines and big ol' schnoz, such that the balance was right without added nose weight!

[yankeekilo]

Originally Posted by ReynoldsSlumber

Lucky that the Viscount has those loooong engines and big ol' schnoz, such that the balance was right without added nose weight!

yes!! that was a lucky, unintentional flight

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Fleet scale plan revised again. Decided I could downsize the Rutan Voyager from 1/72 to 1/120 and attempt the resultant 5/16" (8mm) wing chord. Will likely go for a one-layer arc airfoil on that one, rather than fuss over a minuscule hollow airfoil section that wouldn't take kindly to a tip strike. Also may make the Beech Starship at 1/120, since the model I picked might not be quite fancy enough for 1/72 looks... though maybe it would be if I modify the sharp wing leading edge instep to be curved. Added the Edgley Optica, P.180 Avanti, and Rutan Boomerang (that's a lotta Rutan) to the wish list at 1/72, as well as the MiG-25 that Bruno just previewed for Scissors & Planes at 1/120. Moved the Dash 8 from 1/200 up to 1/120 based upon my recent experience with a Saab 340 static model at 1/160. (Apologies again about the "potato-vision" image—for some reason I still haven't figured out how to post images larger than 640 x 480.)


For the ones for which I haven't found the right downloadable plans, I'm putting out the call on the Design Requests forum! Any takers? VVA-14, SM-64, a fancier YF-23, the aforementioned Rutan Voyager (if the Murph's Models one can't be resurrected)...