Starship Glider

[sr205347d]

After seeing my Bellyflopper, a club member suggested doing a SpaceX Starship that would flop.

After a few tries, I decided that a scale Starship is just too short to do a good flop. Interestingly, it did a pretty good forward glide, considering the stubby little "wings."

As with all my rapid prototyping, the body tube and fins are covered with packing tape and hot-glued on. The nose cone is 3D printed, single perimeter, using PLA.

 

[Cape Byron]

That is extremely cool!

 

[Rktman]

Totally unexpected and fascinating that it glided -- and quite well! The aerodynamics behind how it does that would be intriguing.

 

[sr205347d]

Totally unexpected and fascinating that it glided -- and quite well! The aerodynamics behind how it does that would be intriguing.

It must be a lifting body (tube).

 

[OverTheTop]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihedral_(aeronautics)

 

[Bravo52]

I don't think that's what Elon had in mind, but that is awesome! The W&B looked perfect for gliding. Well done!

 

[Cape Byron]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihedral_(aeronautics)

More effective in this case than I would have expected. One for the ideas box…

 

[modeltrains]

That's a great glide - whether it was the behavior goal or not!

 

[ljwilley]

WOW! That is such a good glide, considering the wings! Very cool.

 

[Cape Byron]

What are the dimensions on this infernal glider?

 

[burkefj]

Neat.

 

[sr205347d]

Neat.

Frank, I know what you are thinking. Scale it up; use depron; add an RX and servos; and re-do your avatar photo.

Go for it!

 

[sr205347d]

What are the dimensions on this infernal glider?

Here is the Rocksim file. The CG is 6.75 inches from the aft end. The body tube is 11" BT-80.

 

[burkefj]

Frank, I know what you are thinking. Scale it up; use depron; add an RX and servos; and re-do your avatar photo.

Go for it!

I've had a couple if my big foam rockets have chute tangles and due to the large size snd light weight they sort of flew like that, my avatar stack didnt fire the ejection once at apogee and I was able to pull it out of the dive with the attached glider controls and get it level before it finally did fire

 

[PaddyDaddy]

Good job Andy! Cant wait to see it fly at the CORSA

 

[Cape Byron]

Here is the Rocksim file. The CG is 6.75 inches from the aft end. The body tube is 11" BT-80.

Many thanks!

 

[Blast it Tom!]

I think this might be kit-able! Now all you have to do is come up with a 33 motor booster...

Seriously, though, I'd like to fly it. The grandkids haven't seen a boost glider yet, and that would be an unexpected outcome for them. "Oh no! No 'chute!"

 

[Cape Byron]

I think my old copy of OR has mangled the RKT file a tad. Could you please confirm BT is 27.9 cm long and glider OAL is 36.6 cm?

Looking to make a BT-60 downscale and then build a booster for it…

 

[sr205347d]

I think my old copy of OR has mangled the RKT file a tad. Could you please confirm BT is 27.9 cm long and glider OAL is 36.6 cm?

Correct.

 

[Cape Byron]

Correct.

Fantastic. I can proceed with my procrastination on farm work.

 

[sr205347d]

. . . and then build a booster for it…

For the booster to make a stable stack, I had to add significant weight to the top end, since you can't add weight to the nose cone to compensate for the forward fins.

I glued a coupler at the forward end of the booster to connect to the Starship.

 

[Cape Byron]

I glued a coupler at the forward end of the booster to connect to the Starship.

That was my intent; a booster with nice big fins and with a bulkhead in the glider to optimise ejection force.

Again, thanks for sharing this.

 

[burkefj]

Frank, I know what you are thinking. Scale it up; use depron; add an RX and servos; and re-do your avatar photo.

Go for it!

Not to derail, but the stack has similar flight properties to the model posted, the second flight is the one where I pull it out of a dive with the glider controls when the altimeter dudnt detect oeak for some reason, you'll see where it just hangs there for a second after the pullout and then the altimeter finally detects peak and fires. No damage to anything.
also used a coupler with a cap to push the glider off at ejection.

 

[sr205347d]

Not to derail, the second flight is the one where I pull it out of a dive with the glider controls, I also used a coupler to push the glider off at ejection. You'll see where it just hangs there for a second after the pullout and then the altimeter finally detects peak and fires. No damage to anything.

Since you already had R/C on board, did you ever consider using manual control of the ejection rather than an altimeter?

 

[burkefj]

Since you already had R/C on board, did you ever consider using manual control of the ejection rather than an altimeter?

I had a bad experience with an e switch failing closed and firing a charge on the ground, I was going to use it for the airstart of the glider post ejection, and had too many switches to flip with control reversal etc so I didnt use air start for the first 12 flights and so went with the altimeter for the ejection, it worked as hoped on all but this one delayed event but maybe I would consider it again.

 

[Cape Byron]

Started playing with BT-60 downscale today.

Could be interesting…

 

[Cape Byron]

My glider has ended up very nose heavy, despite reusing a Bertha NC with the back cut out of it.

Scavenging through the parts bin for a cool way to add tail weight.

The current idea is to use a leftover CR and a short length of BT-20 as a carrier for clay. Slide it down the inside of the airframe and I should still be able to add small amounts of weight.

 

[Cape Byron]

We’ll, I have to report with great disappointment that I can’t get the BT-60 downscale to glide.

Built up and balanced at the same % of OAL as @sr205347d ’s original, my glider wouldn’t stay up.

Or fly straight.

Or do anything pretty.

My feeling is that the downscale is so light (~20gm) that it simply doesn’t have the mass give its physical size to reproduce it’s larger sibling’s stable glide.

Add more weight? Might help.

Still, it makes an interesting nose cone.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Them blasted similarly rules of fluid mechanics can be a bear, maybe even in your case a crazed rabid koala! My bet is on more weight as well, though. Hope you get it worked out!

 

[neil_w]

Started playing with BT-60 downscale today.

Could be interesting…

View attachment 628299

You should really upgrade your copy of OR. I promise it works fine in Australia!

(unless there's something specific blocking you from upgrading)