We got in some freeflight flights with our Pee Wee .020 and the old Atwood on the Wagner Dakota

Our field is surrounded by trees, I didn't want to test fate. The .020 was on 10% fuel as the high nitro really caused it to roll hard into a turn. The Dakota however is heavy with not a lot of glide. It can go higher and not risking floating away when the power cuts. Dan is going to take my plane to the NATS this year and really give it the moon shot. The nice thing about eyedropper tanks is that you can see the fuel level and approximate the fuel useage opposed to a guess. It was fun and I hope to have my Jetex stuff ready in the next few weeks. Ken

That was real cool Ken thanks for the videos

NICE !! man it glides really good and like the way it comes back close to you Thanks Ken , enjoyed !! getback

I'm not a free flight guy, but I really enjoyed those flights. Questions: Prop on backwards ??? On the Dakota I noticed that it switched directions when the engine cut off. Seems it went from clockwise to counter. Torque?

Bob

Bob, placing the prop on backwards works but the prop doesn't work efficiently. I'm limited for space and the Pee Wee is very underestimated when it comes to running one. A 8-10 second run can really put this high. In addition, were next to a airport where we fly and we have a limit of how high we can fly. Rather than risk losing the plane we just keep the flights short. As far as the Dakota, torque is correct. The .020 should do the same, but we have a shim under the wing to keep it in it's current turning path. My Dakota is going to be powered with a Spitzy .045.

Extremely Cool!!!! Great Job Ken and Crew !!!!

Ken Cook wrote:            Bob, placing the prop on backwards works but the prop doesn't work efficiently. I'm limited for space and the Pee Wee is very underestimated when it comes to running one. A 8-10 second run can really put this high. In addition, were next to a airport where we fly and we have a limit of how high we can fly. Rather than risk losing the plane we just keep the flights short.  As far as the Dakota, torque is correct. The .020 should do the same, but we have a shim under the wing to keep it in it's current turning path. My Dakota is going to be powered with a Spitzy .045.

Ya gotta love those Spitzy's. I can't believe how well they run. Start easy too.

Have you ever seen that wooden prop? Came on a Baby Spitfire.

That looks like loads of fun. I could do that at our big open field at Fort Jackson too. I thought the same thing MarleySky said. I spent so much time playing with rubber band American Juniors, I think I would get a new one every time my Mom took me to the "Dime" store. But I s'pose I better have something on strings ready for the Traveling .010. Thanks for posting those videos.
Rusty

Ken,

I love it! I think I might build one. I am looking at the plan on outerzone and have a question on the ribs. I understand they are 1/4" deeper than necessary to hold shape while the glue dries, but what's the tab on the top front of the ribs?

Jim, the tab your referring to is where the sheeting stops. The leading edge on this model is almost 1.5 inches wide with the dado's cut into them to receive the ribs. Once the ribs are glued to the leading edge, the sheeting is installed and the leading edge section is shaped and rounded off. Cool plane. Not much of a glide path which is good for me. I don't have an excessive amount of real estate where we fly. There's a large mail carrier which backs up to the field with many 3-4 story buildings. I lost a beautiful hand launch glider a few weeks ago which didn't make me too happy. It went onto the roof and they were not going to let me retrieve it.

Ken Cook wrote:I lost a beautiful hand launch glider a few weeks ago which didn't make me too happy. It went onto the roof and they were not going to let me retrieve it.

Hex or quad copter with a claw attached for retrieval.

rsv1cox wrote:I'm not a free flight guy, but I really enjoyed those flights.  Questions: On the Dakota I noticed that it switched directions when the engine cut off.  Seems it went from clockwise to counter.  Torque?  

Bob

Joe Wagner designed it o climb one way under power then glide the other. It was designed to be a small-field plane.

Still...once in awhile someone loses one. :-(

George

I think torque does have something to do with it. Years ago i designed a killer V-tail 1/2a pylon racer, only to discover i had no radio after launch, it circled to the left a couple times as it climbed before it straighten out to a large RH turn...it was found the following spring by a farmer, over a mile away.

Bob, Indeed, it is the engine's torque that makes a free flight plane turn in circles.

In theory (and in absence of wind), when chucking the plane by hand without the engine running, it glides straight ahead. In flight, with the engine running CCW with a right hand prop, th port wing will be lower than the starboard wing. This is caused by the reaction of the engine opposite to the CCW turning prop. Once the engine stops, the plane will start gliding straight ahead, which is not very desirable as it flies away in any possible direction, depending at what moment the engine stopped. The thing is to give the plane a small weight at starboard to make it circle to the right when gliding, but this weight may not be too big or to far away from the centre line because it wouldn't go to the left when circling when under power!

In the below video, my Flying Sorcerer climbs to the left and glides back circling to the right but not in tight enough circles. The weight was fixed just inboard of the starboard rudder and this was not far enough. I now fixed it outboard of the rudder. You can't move it too much at a time as this will also influence the climbing to the left which will be less tight. Also the wing weight needs to be at the C of G of the plane



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8wb5mZs9_g



On my new Wing Ding, I fixed a weight to the starboard wing but it was difficult to see what the plane did exactly, I flew in the late afternoon and there was a slight South Westerly wind, so the plane went away from me.



Lieven