Ace foam wing "plans"

There is a fella on Ebay cutting "repro" Ace foam wings. They are pretty nicely made too. Yes, hot wire out of bead foam, not injection molded like the originals. I have not built with a set yet, but bought 2 of both types.

Phil

There's an E-Bay seller, mcclain1717, Jeff McClain of Moses Lake, WA, business MWCores (also nym in RC Groups), 571 items sold with seemingly low 95.3% positive feedback rating. I looked at all his feedback, impressions overall are nitpicks, most seemed happy with his foam wing cutting services, but YMMV (your mileage may vary ).

E-Bay/Replica Ace Foam Wings Straight Chord

He also has tapered cores, $10 plus shipping. Since he does custom cutting tells me he can probably upscale and downscale. There are others.
I've never shopped from him or other core cutters because I don't have a need yet, so again YMMV.

The true beauty of the Ace wing cores...molded OR cut... an infinite variety of 1/2a models from .010 to .074 can be bashed with full fuse or profile or just flying wing designs

I have even successfully cored out the interior or set one pair top and bottom to make a sanded down symmetrical thickish airfloil

I even use them with a 6 inch wide 1/2" thick very lite balsa center section to increase span (one giant wide center rib)

very versatile raw wing materiel just like the Sig MFG airfoil balsa bits...that I do some times laminate top to bottom for symmetrical airfoil

GallopingGhostler wrote:There's an E-Bay seller, mcclain1717, Jeff McClain of Moses Lake, WA, business MWCores (also nym in RC Groups), 571 items sold with seemingly low 95.3% positive feedback rating. I looked at all his feedback, impressions overall are nitpicks, most seemed happy with his foam wing cutting services, but YMMV (your mileage may vary ).

E-Bay/Replica Ace Foam Wings Straight Chord

He also has tapered cores, $10 plus shipping. Since he does custom cutting tells me he can probably upscale and downscale. There are others.
I've never shopped from him or other core cutters because I don't have a need yet, so again YMMV.

Yes, this is the seller.

Phil

fredvon4 wrote:The true beauty of the Ace wing cores...molded OR cut... an infinite variety of 1/2a models from .010 to .074 can be bashed with full fuse or profile or just flying wing designs

I have even successfully cored out the interior or set one pair top and bottom to make a sanded down symmetrical thickish airfloil

I even use them with a 6 inch wide 1/2" thick very lite balsa center section to increase span (one giant wide center rib)

very versatile raw wing materiel just like the Sig MFG airfoil balsa bits...that I do some times laminate top to bottom for symmetrical airfoil

I've got some original Ace cores.. and as you know; my "Phreds's Phault" 50% scale VooDoo is being made from one.

I bought them directly from "Ace" back in the early 1990's..




This was "after" I bought Ace's "All-Star Bipe".. an RC model that is still NIB..




Check-out this receipt..



Ace had lots of goodies for 1/2A flying!

The original cores were molded and were somewhat heavier than the later manufactured cut cores. I believe when Thunder Tiger bought out ACE was when they transitioned to cutting.  Cutting cores is not difficult, but you do need an initial investment in a power source and bow.  Both can be built relatively quickly and for little money, but having a power source that can be finely tuned to the needed heat level makes things easier. I've built both AC and DC power supplies and prefer the DC version --- some cores cut with AC may have a wavy surface possibly due to induced AC harmonics.  AC bows also will hum at times!!

The NACA 2415 airfoil is nicely behaved and a good performer, but probably a little thick.  I suspect it was chosen both for its performance and because the foam wing needed a bit more thickness for structural integrity.  If I were to build an all balsa wing I would probably use a 2413 instead since it's a little less "draggy".  Constant chord wings are simple to build and be cobbled up on freezer paper with a few alignment lines.  The double taper wing shown in the aforementioned plans is more problematic and needs either TE tabs or alignment tubes.  While nicely drawn, the construction could be simplified --- I'm a big fan of the KISS approach.

Owen Kampen was a major contributor to 1/2A designs in the late 60's and early 70's and many of his plans were developed around the ACE wing.  If you're curious, search Outerzone for Kampen; there are more than 20 plans listed.

If you like building and experimenting, you might want to look into getting a copy of the Profili software (Profili2.com).  Cost is 25 euros for the base version (much less when I bought mine), but it is one of the best airfoil generating routines I've seen.

Attached are a couple of pics, one of a simple constant chord (Hershey bar) wing and my DC control for temperature adjustment.

Just like Roddie I have still an unused set of Ace Constant Chord wings purchased 35 years ago. Sterling Minnie Mambo would be an ideal candidate with proper wing saddle changes for the under airfoil, as wing is exactly the same width as the Ace.

Here's a doggedly simple .049 rudder only plane that I built in the early 1980's, late Jack Headley's ultra-rugged 1979 Model Builder .049 Cricket that uses the Ace constant chord foam wing.

Check out Balsa Workbench (Google him).  He as a laser cut built up wing for and Ace foam replacement.  They go for $10.  The owner is Rob and he is a regular poster on the RC Groups Forum.        

Thanks, I bookmarked his page, has a lot of interesting short kits and the Ace wing built up replacement as you pointed out.

Yea, Balsa Workbench is a great place to deal with. I have several kits from him. He will also cut just about any kit you want. His shipping is cheap, well packed, and he is quick to cut and ship. His name is Rob and he spends a lot of time on the RC Groups forum.

The All-Star bipe is really a fun plane, i started with a tee dee and quickly went to a Fuji .099 with throttle, big difference.

Hey Guys,

Bob at Laser Design Services just created balsa built-up versions of the Ace Foam wings, both straight and tapered wings. Check out link below:

http://store.laser-design-services.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=33

Best,
Tony