HL-10 lifting body-ish RC rocket glider

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burkefj

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I've done a profile X-24 that flew as both a rocket glider and a pusher electric. It was a bit heavier than I wanted and the span is so short that it tends to shimmy in roll a bit(blowout in damper 3....) it flew fine but I wanted to re-visit it. I really prefer the look of the HL-10, so I widened the chord of the wing, pushed the motor forward, and got something that weighs 12.5 oz rtf but that has about twice the wing area, about 4 oz/sq foot wing loading. Wingspan is 24", length is 31". The HL-10 scale wing would be a 20" span.

It's not exactly either of the planes, sort of a mashup, but I think it has the lifting body look. I did a bunch of glide tests in the house and I think I have a reasonable starting point for boost at 25% MAC. Tom-Cat Cruise is checking it out, he's torn in doing the test flight, if it works great, if it doesn't work bionics could be cool....

Frank

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Picked up the receiver and servos I with a gift card from work and installed the components in a couple of minutes. Went out just before dark and got three flights in. All boosts were hands off, pitched just a few degrees away from me, which is perfect. I had too much up trim for the first glide setting , and it seemed just a tad pitchy on glide so I added 1/4 ounce more nose weight and reduced the up trim to half and it was perfect. Had two flights before it was too dark. Slightly foggy day, light fading, white plane on a gray sky and hanging smoke made it a bit of a challenge to see some times. But she's earned her panel lines and markings.

Frank
 
Added some panel lines, and the nasa meatballs, worked with Mark at stickershock to do the cockpit windows and tail art since he was already working on some decals for my other kits. I'll give an idea of what it will look like....the windows will really make it look right. You can see how simple and tiny the electronics are, the little square ahead of the receiver is the velcro for the tiny battery. Electronics and battery weigh 1.25 ounces, you don't even really see them when it is flying even though it is a profile model.

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Looks like another winner to me. Nicely done as always.

I need a break from an unusually busy work and family schedule to finish up a couple of started projects I have threads going on with in here and to start at least one or two more....:)
 
Got the vinyl from stickershock and it went on perfectly. Really dresses it up. although I know the HL-10 was not an airforce project, I though the markings dressed it up a bit more and it wasn't so plain....
I'll see if I can get some flight video tomorrow weather and daughter willing.

Frank

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Here's some flight video from today, flights 4-8....She's really a sweatheart, hardly any steering on boost, not twitchy on roll, just really minor steering commands and flare, the glide trim setting is just about 1/8" of up, hardly any....

[video=youtube;JXXKBVEfMU0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXXKBVEfMU0[/video]
 
Very nice, Frank! I watched on mute from work. Did you mention what motors you used?

Ari.
 
Tom, I sized it with kitting in mind, but it will be a few dollars more due to a bit more carbon and nose weight needed. I wanted to get an order commitment before I go through the work of making templates and instructions/photos...do you want one?

Frank
 
Interested, but I am going to have to work through the 5-6 other Depron RC RG projects that I have in various stages of completion, first....:)

I also found a paper model of Spaceship 2 that looks like it needs to be done in Depron.....
 
Ok Tom, I had some time today, so i cut out the templates and did the instructions and assembly photos. This is now the simplest of my kits to put together. I was able to keep the price the same as the others even though it uses more carbon and nose weight, it does take me as long to cut it out. It's on my site now.

Frank
 
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