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Hey all, I made a wright stuff model for an invitational a few weeks back, but never had the chance to test it before the invitational. When we finally flew it during the event, our plane didn't fly for long (~20s). Despite that, we noticed it didn't really turn a lot, and we can't figure out why. Our wing area was 6.75x34.5cm, and we designed our wing to be asymmetrical, with the left side being about 10% longer than the right. Our stabilizer was 7x23cm, and was tilted with the left side being higher than the right by about 1/2 an inch.
Essentially my questions are:

1) Are these asymmetric qualities needed? If so, how do they help the plane?
2) Are we missing anything with respect to turning the airplane counter clockwise? Should there be a rudder on the tailboom to help with the turn? Maybe the propeller should be angled?
3) What adjustments can we make to increase/decrease the radius of the plane's path?

P.S If one of you could list out all the essential qualities an airplane must have to turn counter clockwise, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Buildman,

The typical settings used to induce and control turn to the left are the following: about 2 degrees of stabilizer tilt, 2 to 3 degrees of tailboom offset, 2 to 2.5 degrees of thrustline offset, Left wing panel slightly longer than the right (maybe 1/4” to 1/2”) and a small amount of left wing washin (maybe 1/16” to 1/8”) and, for some airplane designs, a small amount of rudder offset.

Depending upon the airplane design, any or all of these trim settings would be appropriate.

That being said, there are other reasons that an airplane might not be turning (ex. CG incorrect, decalage angle incorrect, etc.). If you can supply additional detail of your airplane design, all trim settings and flight character I can give better and more specific recommendations. See my previous posts for the list of details that would be helpful.

Brian T