AstronMike
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Not long ago I posted on the Cardstock OT thread about trying a larger sized gliding Bomarc on only a C6 motor by going with absolute minimum weight. Well, I went ahead and did so, but decided my first attempt shouldnt be too out of whack so therefor I went with a BT70 scale rather than 80.
I rolled the main BT out of 65# cardstock, one ply only, and probably should have just taped the sheets together and rolled those on a long BT70 as a mandrel. Oh well, it worked anyways. The pod tube is full length, and therefor really provides the 'spine' needed for boost rigidity, although it too steps down from a BT20 down to a BT5. The nose cone is really a rolled PAPER CONE to save weight.
The wing and tail surfaces are made with 1/8" thick Depron, which is very very light (around 350-400in sq/z). Its also very flimsy too, so those needed some reinforcing, but again, adding too much would increase the weight to a point where this wouldnt be doable on a puny C6. As you can see in the picture, I took a 1" strip of the cardstock and folded it over the wings LE and glued this down with weights until dry. That did the trick nicely, added just enough strength without upping the weight much at all. Since the tail section doesnt have too much span those areas did not need reinforcing but still are pretty flimsy. Have to watch those paperclips....
If the main wing looks a bit too far aft on mine, that is intentional. Since this has very little weight forward of the wing, putting the wing in its 'right spot' would have resulted in adding nose weight just to trim for glide - no way!
The glider itself, without pod, comes in at 1.9z. Yes, a tad under TWO ounces, and in midair, this is evident. With pod the no motor weight came in at 3.1z, which is perfect for a C6-3. Now, how would all this really work in real life from the pad up??
I launched this at the TTRA launch last Saturday, and I had the good fortune to have Brianc of this Forum in attendance. The glider boosted perfectly straight, with no roll nor arcing, and just as it layed over at apogee, the pod shot out the back nicely. Even with no wind, the glider settled into a NICE SLOW glide, unheard of for a Bomarc, and probably stayed up 45 seconds, landing pretty far away for 'just a C motor'.
If I make the BT80 size, this should come in around 3.7z, which would still be doable on a C6, but would be very draggy and clunky.
I also made a BT60 sized SkyDart using this method but havent flown it yet. That larger and flimsier wing worries me and may have to need more reinforcing. Plus, I did make a large version of my old venerable 'Marauder' glider and it too flew well, albeit a very poor ejection charge did not eject the pod but still released the elevator for a rocket glide recovery.
With this concept now proven, I cant wait to see just how big and light gliders can be flown on C6s.
I rolled the main BT out of 65# cardstock, one ply only, and probably should have just taped the sheets together and rolled those on a long BT70 as a mandrel. Oh well, it worked anyways. The pod tube is full length, and therefor really provides the 'spine' needed for boost rigidity, although it too steps down from a BT20 down to a BT5. The nose cone is really a rolled PAPER CONE to save weight.
The wing and tail surfaces are made with 1/8" thick Depron, which is very very light (around 350-400in sq/z). Its also very flimsy too, so those needed some reinforcing, but again, adding too much would increase the weight to a point where this wouldnt be doable on a puny C6. As you can see in the picture, I took a 1" strip of the cardstock and folded it over the wings LE and glued this down with weights until dry. That did the trick nicely, added just enough strength without upping the weight much at all. Since the tail section doesnt have too much span those areas did not need reinforcing but still are pretty flimsy. Have to watch those paperclips....
If the main wing looks a bit too far aft on mine, that is intentional. Since this has very little weight forward of the wing, putting the wing in its 'right spot' would have resulted in adding nose weight just to trim for glide - no way!
The glider itself, without pod, comes in at 1.9z. Yes, a tad under TWO ounces, and in midair, this is evident. With pod the no motor weight came in at 3.1z, which is perfect for a C6-3. Now, how would all this really work in real life from the pad up??
I launched this at the TTRA launch last Saturday, and I had the good fortune to have Brianc of this Forum in attendance. The glider boosted perfectly straight, with no roll nor arcing, and just as it layed over at apogee, the pod shot out the back nicely. Even with no wind, the glider settled into a NICE SLOW glide, unheard of for a Bomarc, and probably stayed up 45 seconds, landing pretty far away for 'just a C motor'.
If I make the BT80 size, this should come in around 3.7z, which would still be doable on a C6, but would be very draggy and clunky.
I also made a BT60 sized SkyDart using this method but havent flown it yet. That larger and flimsier wing worries me and may have to need more reinforcing. Plus, I did make a large version of my old venerable 'Marauder' glider and it too flew well, albeit a very poor ejection charge did not eject the pod but still released the elevator for a rocket glide recovery.
With this concept now proven, I cant wait to see just how big and light gliders can be flown on C6s.
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