Rex R
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- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
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some thoughts, and observations(pictures later). In a recent bit of building I'm doing Hi-Flyers (in bt-20 and bt-70 sizes) I decided to add a bt60 version to round out the fleet plus I wanted to pad out an order, I bought an Estes Hi-Flyer XL.
general observations;
the provided fins are cut from medium hard balsa. the tube coupler is reasonably long(at 3"). pick-nitters might argue that it isn't exactly an upscale since this version is longer than it should be(31" vs 28") however, after 'building' a design file I quickly found a possible reason and agree w/ the decision, the added length is needed for stability(you really don't want to over do the glue, really). even with the added length the stability margin is cutting it fine, to help combat this I've decided to add a 5060 centering ring to the forward end of the coupler as a chute shelf.
one thing I did not see in the instructions is any reference to fin filets...weight savings perhaps? current design file attached, please note that it reflects the modified version that I'm working on.
Rex
View attachment hi-flyer_xl_modified.ork
general observations;
the provided fins are cut from medium hard balsa. the tube coupler is reasonably long(at 3"). pick-nitters might argue that it isn't exactly an upscale since this version is longer than it should be(31" vs 28") however, after 'building' a design file I quickly found a possible reason and agree w/ the decision, the added length is needed for stability(you really don't want to over do the glue, really). even with the added length the stability margin is cutting it fine, to help combat this I've decided to add a 5060 centering ring to the forward end of the coupler as a chute shelf.
one thing I did not see in the instructions is any reference to fin filets...weight savings perhaps? current design file attached, please note that it reflects the modified version that I'm working on.
Rex
View attachment hi-flyer_xl_modified.ork