What are you flying in Lim B

All Things Related to Limited B

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AIM
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Post by AIM »

The biggest change that I'm THINKING about for the 2nd half of the 07 season is changing to flying wings. Some of the guys that I talk to claim they build faster and easier than conventional planes. Added bonus is the elimination of 1 servo. The biggest part of them that scares me is that I've been told the CG range on a wing is tight and setup is a bit more complicated. My current fence post design is so forgiving I can plunk the battery and reciever just about anywhere and it pretty much flies the same.
I've kinda estimated that one plane takes me about 10 hours to complete. If I could trim this down by a good percentage by going to wings that would be cool.
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

Aaron, considering your flying "style" you had better stick with what you are currently flying. I flew them for about a year and decided I wanted a fuse with extra wings in case of a disaster. With a flying wing, if you toast the wing, you build another ship which is much more time consuming than building another wing for your current ship. Just my opinion which is worth less than $.02 due to inflation.[;)]
AIM
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Post by AIM »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by boiler</i>
<br />Aaron, considering your flying "style" you had better stick with what you are currently flying.[;)]
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Now thats harsh!![:D]
Lee Liddle
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Post by Lee Liddle »

Aaron. I`ll give you a quick run down on flying wings pros and cons.



They are simpler to build.. On both my SSC and Open B ships I`m now using a small fuse which rubberbands on. On an IC plane this would house the engine and throttle servo in the front and (if you want) the center vertical fin in the back. A fuse like this takes just a few minutes to make and set up. Other than that the wing is the same as a conventional wing except that you must use a servo for each elevon. The rx and flight batt mount in the wing, and if you use a removable antenna, these items can be switched from wing to wing in a couple of minutes. So basically the wings take about the same amount of time to build and set-up and the fuse is very durable because it`s so short.

They are more tricky to get trimmed. The CG is much more critical, you have about 1/4" range at the most. You absolutely have to have a computer radio to dial them in properly for combat. The radio should be capable of giving you at least two rates on pitch control, but three is better. The thrust angle is very important too. If it`s off you can trim it to fly, but launches will be uncontrollable.

In limited B, since you have a min weight and a max area you will not be able to turn quite as tight as a conventional plane of the same weight.

An advantage in limited B would be that because your "fuse" is so much lighter, you can build your wing much heavier (stronger) and therefore should be more survivable.

One more thing. When you fly a "wing" everyone thinks that you are really cool, and wants to be your friend. LOL [8D]
AIM
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Post by AIM »

You may have just assisted in helping to make up my mind to NOT go with wings. As I said previously. My current design is so forgiving it's ridiculous. I once got midaired and without time to make decent repairs I just clipped 2/3 of one aileron off. Taped a new battery on probably 2" behind the old location and flew the next round without any problems other than a slower turning responce. I'm certain that I was nose heavy to start with but it still shows the wide range that this design can be built and flown with respectable performance. The last thing I wanna do is start worrying about thrust line and trying to maintain 1/4" CG with 3 different motors that weight differently.
Of course if it would make me cool that would be a plus.
Lee Liddle
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Post by Lee Liddle »

Yep fly wings are certainly not for everyone. In fact, very few are willing to endure the learning curve and to stick with the attention to detail that it takes to make and keep a good wing design competitive.

That`s why I gave you the Readers Digest version of the pros and cons.
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

Thanks for you help Lee. I know Aaron's "style" which is worse than my own. For anyone willing to work as hard as Lee does to keep everything tweaked just right, the wing is awesome. For guys like myself that let's say "are a little more laid back" a durable phence post or aluminum rails are hard to beat. It wasn't a wing that won the LSN in open or SSC. It was a bona fide geezer flying his own version of a regular plane.[;)]
Lee Liddle
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Post by Lee Liddle »

Well spoken Bob, although Falcon`s did finish in a close 2nd(less than one cut) and 3rd place in Open B.
AIM
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Post by AIM »

If I've made up my mind about the wing thing (which I believe I have) I'm left with making some improvements to my current design. The one flight charicteristic that I don't like is how much speed is bled off in a hard turn. I've compared myself to other planes and it seems that I lose alot more speed than some other planes. I honestly don't know if this is an engine related issue or an airframe issue. I wanna try to clean up my airframe a bit to reduce drag and see if that helps but I doubt it will help much (if any). Another question I am trying to figure out is (Is fuel delivery being affected in a turn that reduces RPMs?) If so would switching to bladder or bubbless help?
Don't anyone get me wrong here. I'm reasonably happy with the setup I run currently. If I don't get these things figured out I really won't care that much. I just like to tinker.
My current design in the right hands could win events but as Bob has pointed out my "style" leaves a bit to be desired.
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Post by Captain America »

I believe the new b-2 wing your using will help your turns, you need to get around and mount the bubble-less tank as well, it will help. Bring it over and let me play with it for a while...
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

Tim, I had a glow bee tach once. It crapped out after half a season and I found it to be less user friendly than the cheap tower hobbies tach. I've had it for over 3 years and find it easier to get a consistent reading. When we first started taching SSC a number of guys had analog tachs which were considered better because they cost more. The Tower tachs seemed to be in agreement with the analog numbers but were easier to read.
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

Is this limited B or SSC or open B????????????????????
AIM
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Post by AIM »

If anyone wants to come to Ohio May 6th I'll personally see to it that "enjoyment of the hobby" is priority one!
SSC in Richmond on the 5th and LimB and Open at Hillside on the 6th. Friday night steak night on the 4th at Sean Rupps, BBQ ribs the night of the 5th at my place. Plenty of food and and a great time!!! (food and lodging for all)
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

I'm tempted to travel the 1 3/4 hours Aaron. If you just had the airfield in your backyard you would have Wingnut Acres.
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Post by Alex Treneff »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Lee Liddle</i>
<br />We aren`t flying any Lim B down here right now, but I`d like to hear about what you guys are using.
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Going to be building some new "B" Battle Axe's over the winter. I found out at the NATs last year that .15-size planes don't keep up with .25-size planes once you catch a couple of streamers.

In some of the 5 rounds of Limited B that I flew with my SSC's, I got 2 cuts. Problem was since I was using a .15-motor, the 2 streamers on the wings slowed me down. With a .25-motor I'm looking for a least a dozen cuts a round... (or dreaming, one of the two! [:D])
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