Combat SPADs

SPAD Combat designs and discussions
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RH
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Post by RH »

SpadCat, it was great to fly with you guys and hope to mix it up with you again.

Have you found something for a fiberglass spar? I was just standing in front of the fiberglass ladders at Sears thinking about ripping down one of the legs to spar size...

rh
SpadCat
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Post by SpadCat »

I have been using driveway reflector rods I get from a local hardware store for only $1.39ea. Home Depot is more expensive. They are 36" long and I use them at that length for my 48" wings. For my SSC 58" foamie wings, I use a tubular splice so that the spar is full length. I was just at WallMart, and I noticed they had bicycle flag poles that may work. They did not look tapered. About 9 bucks for 7 feet (approx.).

Screamin' SpadCat
RH
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Post by RH »

Here's a shot of my most recent SPAD Open B rig.

Image

64 incher, 2mm coro armor on the inside - fierglass rod and bi-di.

It flies very well and I hope to be more competitive with the foamers this year. If you think it looks a bit like a Cobra wing...it is a bit like a Cobra wing!
Image

I'll be working on loosing some weight for an SSC wing.

rh
spaddawg
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Post by spaddawg »

Well,

The SPAD's are still in the hunt for me. I have taken a First in Open"B" , SSC, and a third in 2610 Scale all with Spads in the last 13 months against the best pilots in the southwest flying foam bird against me!! They may not be the strongest but they a cheap and easy to build quickly in numbers!![:D]
As for SSC I think I am going to build nothing but COROSTANGS with 60" wings from now on!! at 2.7-lbs it cooks!!
Image
I think I will build a Red one and a Grey one to go along with old Yeller here!![:p]
RH
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Post by RH »

Way to go, spaddawg!

What are you using for a spar in old Yeller?

rh
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

I have only one spad. It is a HOR and I still fly it for a fun fly and used it at a SSC meet this year when I had two sick runing Cobras. It had some disadvantages but I got an extra two minutes of run time before it leaned out. When I built the wing, I ran bi di tape over the leading edge and did a full wrap around the wing following the edge of the spar. That seemed to me to add a lot of durability in mid-airs. If this design eventually fails, I may look into a carbon fiber spar. Yes it will cost more, but it may be reusable.( If it is ever needed)
THend
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Post by THend »

Hey guys, SPADS are doing very well in the SoCal Arena. The Pearl was won by a SPAD in SSC, infact a WarBird SPAD!

James was kind enough to spend the weekend at our home, and I had the chance to watch the Master at work. In about two hours of BSing etc.. he built a beautiful coro wing, servo installed and ready to go. That was slow for him actually!

He has got me thinking real hard about hybrid SPADS. Especially in SSC where the impact forces are much lower than in Open B. I am thinking about thermal bonded formers.. ohhhh, I need the Coro Master to show the way!
Cajun
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Post by Cajun »

Terry, tell me more about your concept of "thermal bonding"

I don't think we've exhausted the possibilities of coro for SSC yet. I keep thinking there has to be a way of using foam for the LE and wrapping 2 mil around it. Like, hot wire a light LE core, glue the spar to it, and wrap the 2 mil wing surface around it. I just haven't found a good way to bend the coro around the LE and get a consistant airfoil. The weight addition of the foam LE would be minimal and gluing the coro to the foam would increase the strength and stiffness of the wing immeasurably.
Bob Leone
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Post by Bob Leone »

What would be the problem of running thr flutes long way over the foam. You could split the some of the flutes to get it to wrap around the foam.
RH
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Post by RH »

Cajun, I am in total agreement with you on more SSC coro possibilities. I like your idea of the foam leading edge. Wondering how a fiberglass rod (or 2) glued to the back edge of the foam LE would work for a spar. Is there another material, maybe kevlar or fiberglass cloth, that could be glued to the back of the foam to form a stiff but flexible spar structure?

On my SSC wings, I'm thinking the fiberglass rod is overkill and I could lighten things up a bit by eliminating it and just tape the LE, maybe both inside and outside. I was considering taping a piece of Spider Wire fishing line into the LE but don't know how effective it would be, if at all, in preventing or minimizing LE damage.


I haven't tried wrapping foam with coro, yet. What kind of problems are you running into?

rh
Cajun
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Post by Cajun »

You can run the coro spanwise, but unless you slit or remove the back of the flutes the coro kinks on the top. Even when the flutes are split the results are not perfect.

The airfoil is much better with the flutes running chordwise, but bending it around the foam core LE requires a heating process to get a smooth bend and I have not found the secret to this.

I really don't think the spar would be a problem if we could glue the spar to the foam and glue the coro over it as this lamination of the three components will add lots of strength. This would be the equivalent of a stressed skin construction. A thin yardstick, or piece of basswood would probably be sufficient. I doubt if we would even need any other material in the LE. The weight of this wing should be no more than foam covered with plastic tape. Time to build should be less. Durability is not predictable but should be good.
Cajun
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Post by Cajun »

It's been a while since we started this topic and I'm curious if anyone has come up with anything new in SSC/Coro designs or fabrication methods.[?]

I built one 2 mil wing with blue foam filling the LE and glued to the spar. It added just a little to the building time and requires a foam cutter, but added only a couple of oz. to the weight. I can't tell if it adds to the strength as we have had no combat at the field since I built it.

Feel free to chime in here if you've found something new or clever.

Is anyone flying Spads at Paris?
adamdb
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Post by adamdb »

Cajun,
RH will be there with SPADs. I continue to fly SPADs in combat, but won't be able to make it to Paris.

Nothing too new from me on the build front except that I have finally successfully built and flown a SPAD SSC plane. Due to designs that were too advanced (sheepish grin) I had not had much luck in the past. My SSC bird is 48" span HOR derivative. All I did for armor was a double wrap of strapping tape on the leading edge. I also overlapped the yardstick spar for the middle 2' of the spar as this seems to be one of the first things to break. The spar also stops about 4" from the wing tips for cartwheel protection.

I do have a 48" span all 2mm wing C channel HOR that I made for Open B that has been in 2 midairs with essentially zero damage. It uses the same double wrap of strapping tape. Neither of the hits was wing to wing so I have yet to determine how well this will hold up. The 2nd midair was with an armored foamy. I flew up into one of his wings and destroyed the wing of his plane. The only damage to mine was a broken prop and the nylon bolts holding my cutting board broke (like they are supposed to). I had it back together in 10 minutes and most of that was cleaning the dirt off the engine.

Another comment I will make is that my Open B HORs launch REALLY well. At our last meet the wind was blowing about 90mph (okay, it was probably closer to 15-20mph) and folks with the short coupled foamies were having a lot of trouble getting airborne. My HORs launched nice and steady every time.

Adam
RH
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Post by RH »

Cajun, my SPADs are tuned up, loaded up and ready to rock in Paris. I decided, this weekend, that I had too many fast SPADs for one man to destroy so I asked my brother to fly my back up rigs. Announcing TEAMhodges!

I am still a fan of the fiberglass rod reinforced LE with a stouter than yardstick spar. I have gone from the Hershey bar wing to more of a Cobra shape.

Looking forward to cuttin you this weekend!

rh
THend
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Post by THend »

Yes, there is a material used in the surf industry that will thermally bond to coro. It is very tough, and if put on the LE of a coro ship will make the LE very very tough. I don't specialize in coro, but I do have some good samples. I guess I need to make a coro wing.. RH and Cajun, email me your mailing address, I'll send you some of this stuff.
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