4 Questions

[Ethancheese123]

1. How do you make your plane stop ascending after a certain point? I'm afraid during competition day my plane might hit the ceiling or get stuck. ( if it even reaches that high.)

2. When I put my stab at a downward incidence, it doesn't glide as well. It kinda stalls (Without a rubber powered) do you guys know the cause of this? (Same with putting wing at a positive incidence) but if I put my wing at a negative incidence, it glides well but glides downwards.

3. How do you generate more lift? It seems like my plane is having a hard time getting up in the air.

4. I am currently using a red propellor made by SIG, I feel like the prop is too heavy and is generating too much thrust? Should I get an Ikara prop? If so, where can I get them?

Sorry for a load of questions, I'm pretty new to scioly.

[JasperKota]

You're asking the right questions!

1. Yeah, many planes end up being able to reach the ceiling, and it's important to be able to control the altitude. To avoid climbing too high, dewind. After reaching the maximum of winds you can get out of the motor (usually winding clockwise), dewind a couple of times, meaning wind in the opposite direction (usually counterclockwise), which will significantly reduce torque. See graph below, which shows that dewinding decreases the torque more than the rate at which torque increases with each wind. Having a torque meter can really help with controlling altitude, but if you don't have one, dewind a lot, perhaps 20, and see how far the plane flies from the ceiling. Then, after each test dewind a few winds less (depending on how close the plane flew to the ceiling). Do keep in mind that amount of dewinds necessary will depend on the motor, and even with the same motor it may change because it loosens after hardwinding.

3. Try using thicker rubber, or winding more. Also maybe try raising the leading edge of the wing, if it's adjustable, or putting a shim (tiny block of wood) under the front wing post.

4. Personally, I think the Ikara props perform a lot better than the red injection mold ones - they're lighter and you can adjust pitch a bit with them. Get the 15 (or 14, I can't recall at the top of my head) cm ones. You can also try the big broad flaring pitch blade propeller, which you'll have to trim down quite a bit but it's nice in that it flexes, making the plane climb more slowly, then while descending and goes to a flatter pitch. You can find both at freedomflightmodels.com.

Disclaimer: Speaking from personal experiences with Wright Stuff and rubber powered freeflight, am not an expert on indoor free flight by any means

[Ethancheese123]

Thanks for the info!
One last question: what are peoples times without a motor? Kinda an unusual question, i'm just wondering

[JasperKota]

Thanks for the info!
One last question: what are peoples times without a motor? Kinda an unusual question, i'm just wondering

Er, I'm not sure if many people actually measure their times without a motor, but I'd imagine it'd to be just a few seconds? Maybe 5 at most? It'd vary from the height dropped, if it's slightly pushed, or if it's just dropped, etc.

There's a past event called elastic launched glider, which flies without a motor after being launched into the air, if you're interested in that kind of thing?

[Ethancheese123]

It's just that I just finished my plane yesterday, and I havent fully flown my plane in like an actual gym with a motor. So, I've been throwing my plane without a motor to see how well it glides. And I was wondering what others people's times were without a motor so I could compare mine with theirs to maybe infer how my plane does when flown in a gym, with the motor.

[JasperKota]

It's just that I just finished my plane yesterday, and I havent fully flown my plane in like an actual gym with a motor. So, I've been throwing my plane without a motor to see how well it glides. And I was wondering what others people's times were without a motor so I could compare mine with theirs to maybe infer how my plane does when flown in a gym, with the motor.

There are so many variables that have to do with the motor it's kind of impossible (in my opinion) to predict how your plane will fly based on just dropping it and letting it glide. Your plane will not climb without a motor (if that's what you were wondering about for your earlier question). Also be patient - letting it glide and just dropping it many times can lead to damaging it, so just wait until you can test it at a gym.

[Froggie]

I sometimes make mine glide just to see whether I have the wing in the correct place. If it stalls or kinda nose dives, I know to fix the wing without having to wind every time.

[retired1]

For a glide test, you should add a weight equivalent to the weight of the rubber and the prop. I would have the prop on and only add the rubber weight. Consider using a 1/4 motor for initial testing. It will teach you a lot about your trim.

[jander14indoor]

Test gliding with prop and motor, or at least there equivalent weight is useful for checking basic trim, not a bad quality check before official or powered flights.
Key isn't so much time as behavior. You want a floaty steady glide,no stalls, no dives, turning as planned. As already mentioned how far it goes depends on how high you launch it. For my height, I launch around 5-5.5 ft off ground, I expect it to glide 30+ feet depending on the rules in a given year.
Beyond that, you really need to test under power.
Note, you shouldn't THROW your plane so much as give it a gentle straight and level push to get it to flying speed and attitude as it leaves your hand. Throwing hard or up just distorts the results until it returns to steady state glide speed and attitude. AND its a good way to break the plane.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[Ethancheese123]

Another question: Should I rotate my tailboom upwards?