Scioly.org

Ok thank you very much for the information.

What is an ideal caber for a wright stuff plane?

Hi,
So I did his event last year and it was fun but time-taking. So last year I did everything by hand (e.g. the camber), this year I have more of a time constraint so i'm going to have to work faster. The fastest solution I came up with is laser cutting my pieces. If anyone does this could I some tips?

Nesh wrote:Hi,
So I did his event last year and it was fun but time-taking. So last year I did everything by hand (e.g. the camber), this year I have more of a time constraint so i'm going to have to work faster. The fastest solution I came up with is laser cutting my pieces. If anyone does this could I some tips?

In general, most of us make ribs by using templates and cutting by hand. This method is plenty fast, as I can cut out a rib every 10 seconds or so using an undercut template. Some people will bend their stock to shape, but I found that to be too time consuming. Unless you are confident in your 2d cad skills and have easy access to a laser cutter, hand cut is still the fastest. The third alternative is to buy a kit.

We simply bend some 3" wide stock to shape. This is a 5-minute job. We find a plastic bucket, container, or something that has the right radius. Or we band-saw a piece of 2x4. Then briefly wet the piece of balsa, lay it on the curve so that the grain follows the curve (bend it the "hard" way). Tape it down with blue tape (2" wide). Put it in the microwave for a few minutes until dry. Then slice it with a Master Airscrew balsa stripper.

This puts the grain following the camber, making a stronger rib than simply cutting it from sheet stock.

Coach Chuck

coachchuckaahs wrote:We simply bend some 3" wide stock to shape. This is a 5-minute job. We find a plastic bucket, container, or something that has the right radius. Or we band-saw a piece of 2x4. Then briefly wet the piece of balsa, lay it on the curve so that the grain follows the curve (bend it the "hard" way). Tape it down with blue tape (2" wide). Put it in the microwave for a few minutes until dry. Then slice it with a Master Airscrew balsa stripper.

This puts the grain following the camber, making a stronger rib than simply cutting it from sheet stock.

Coach Chuck

If you decide to go this route, you can 3d print templates to bend around. Keep in mind that the balsa will spring back a little when it dries, so make your template slightly more curved than your intended camber.

Yes, you can 3_d print. We thought about doing that this year, but then it was easier to just band-saw a 2x4.

If thoroughly soaked, and then microwaved, we have not seen any noticeable springback. When we used to dry overnight we did see springback. I think the microwave does a better job of "steaming" the wood.

Coach Chuck

Comment on instructions. Yes the Freedom Flight ones are wonderful. But there are a lot of free ones on the internet.

From the National website, this one is pretty good:
https://soinc.org/sites/default/files/u ... iad5.0.pdf

A TREASURE trove of information for the more advanced is the old indoor freeflight news letter, Indoor News and Views, INAV, look under downloads,
https://indoornewsandviews.com/downloads/
particularly the Best of..
https://indoornewsandviews.files.wordpr ... f-inav.pdf
Useful articles:
Easy EZB Props..................................................................................................................................... 28
Hobby Shop EZB .................................................................................................................................. 34
Balsa Grain............................................................................................................................................ 83
“My Way” Penny Plane construction.................................................................................................... 87
Winding................................................................................................................................................154
YES, this is for much lighter airplanes than Wright Stuff. But the KNOWLEDGE, TOOLS, and TECHNIQUES are directly applicable to Wright Stuff.

For those worried about building skills. Jigs and fixtures! See those articles above, all DIRECTLY usable for Wright Stuff. I'll say particularly the Hobby Shop EZB article. If you follow it carefully almost anyone can make an airplane FAR lighter than a WS plane capable of 20 minute flights. Steal the ideas from it the "My Way" Penny Plane article and WS is easy...
...well, maybe not easy, but VERY doable.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

So I've used last years Freedom Flight Model and transferred all the measurnments to this years. However, my plane has trouble gaining lift, and so it just goes downwards. The weight is about 8.3g and the rubber motor is 65 and is about 2.3 grams. I wind it about 1500 times. Can someone help me with the lift? It see,s like it doesn't have enough power... Thx.

Jn366435 wrote:So I've used last years Freedom Flight Model and transferred all the measurnments to this years. However, my plane has trouble gaining lift, and so it just goes downwards. The weight is about 8.3g and the rubber motor is 65 and is about 2.3 grams. I wind it about 1500 times. Can someone help me with the lift? It see,s like it doesn't have enough power... Thx.

I think you need a rubber motor with a thicker cross-section. Last year at nationals I used 0.052 and got 4th, but you need to remember the new changes for this year. Did you change your propeller from the 14cm to 24 cm? 0.065 will definitely not work with a 24cm propeller. The freedom flight kit this year comes with a 24 cm propeller and the thinnest rubber provided in the kit is 0.087. Also, remember the new minimum weight. Last year's minimum weight was 7 grams. This year it's 8 grams. It may not seem like a big difference but it actually matters quite a lot.