Living Room Flyer Improvements Yield Better Results
Posted on November 30, 2009 by aaronredbaron
In my first attempt at building a model capable of flying in a living room (click here to see the first article on the Living Room Flyer design contest), I was less than impressed. I decided to tweak the design and give it another try before I scrapped it and start over fresh. My results are better than I expected, but not nearly satisfactory.
My original idea was to build a lifting fuse design with outboard panels in a polyhedral configuration for roll stability. I built washout into the outboard panels to make the aircraft as stable as possible in a near stalled, or high alpha, flight attitude. Despite my successful test glides, the model did not fly well with radio gear under power. It was stable, but did not produce enough lift, and would settle into a high alpha attitude during a turn from which it did not want to recover.
By removing area from the center of the wing to create a smaller wing and separate tail, I was also able to add a center flap. Scotty Bouck suggested my leading edge design may be flawed and producing excess drag, and the more I though about it, the more I didn’t like the leading edge I had going. I was able to carefully cut along the center of the leading edge to remove the lower section, thereby making the wing truly undercambered. I removed any excess formers or ribs I could to reduce weight, and gave it a try with a fresh battery.
My results are 50% better. The model can now maintain flight and turn without losing all its airspeed. It is able to fly, but will hardly climb, and my best flight yet is a few short hops around the living room. I had intended to build another design before this contest was over, but with a move this month and everything else, I wasn’t able to dedicate enough time to it.
