powderburner
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- Jan 17, 2009
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Maybe I read too fast through these posts, but I didn't find much description of how the lifting body itself flew.
A lot of these shapes are really only practical for achieving a 'controlled' descent, with some small margin of steerability and cross-range capability. Have not seen one yet that 'glides' like a real aircraft, and some want to roll upside down from the way you want them to fly. And if you are building a model-sized LB you have to be extra careful to get all fins aligned perfectly or else the things will want to tumble out of control.
Have you tried building one out of cardstock, using minimal glue, and not using paint? Pretty often, excess weight (glue, paint, decals, etc) can be a real killer on what little glide characteristics these things have to begin with.
A lot of these shapes are really only practical for achieving a 'controlled' descent, with some small margin of steerability and cross-range capability. Have not seen one yet that 'glides' like a real aircraft, and some want to roll upside down from the way you want them to fly. And if you are building a model-sized LB you have to be extra careful to get all fins aligned perfectly or else the things will want to tumble out of control.
Have you tried building one out of cardstock, using minimal glue, and not using paint? Pretty often, excess weight (glue, paint, decals, etc) can be a real killer on what little glide characteristics these things have to begin with.