Cardstock gliders?

[Sooner Boomer]

Are there any plans (or kits) for cardstock boost/rocket gliders?

 

[grapetang]

Do the old Centuri X-24 Bug or the Quest HL-20 count? I'm sure you can also convert various paper models to parasitic gliders - the old space shuttle orbiter glider comes to mind. Good luck!

 

[Ez2cDave]

"Whitewings" . . .

https://www.ebay.com/sch/220/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=%22whitewings%22&LH_TitleDesc=0&_blrs=recall_filtering

Dave F.

 

[BABAR]

"Whitewings" . . .

https://www.ebay.com/sch/220/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=%22whitewings%22&LH_TitleDesc=0&_blrs=recall_filtering

Dave F.

Cool, but I’m thinking unlikely to hold up to a model rocket boost. I could be mistaken.

 

[tab28682]

Would be interesting to strategically add a very tiny amount of a carbon fiber shape (strip or rod) to cardstock gliders of the Whitewings style to see how well they might hold up under boost.............

 

[K'Tesh]

The Centuri Hummingbird was a rocket glider...

 

[Ez2cDave]

Yes . . . I had one, "back in the day" .

Dave F.

 

[tab28682]

The Centuri Hummingbird was a rocket glider...

I always considered the Hummingbird to be made of a fiberboard material as opposed to cardstock. Was much heavier duty than typical cardstock. Note that it used wood strips on the tail booms for reinforcement.

I had one in my youth. Flew it several times, but it was not that great of a glider.

 

[GlenP]

Cool, but I’m thinking unlikely to hold up to a model rocket boost. I could be mistaken.

Depends on the rocket, it would probably do fine on a Big Bertha or Amazon as a parasite glider, you know a low and slow booster. But probably not suited to a pop-pod tractor motor type of RBG. The WhiteWings usually have a portion of the wing doubled up, so the leading edge portion is pretty well reinforced, you could probably simply add another laminate to simulate a wing spar to add some strength to help prevent it from bending under the loads during boost. To help reduce the lifting load, the parasite glider could be mounted slightly nose-down relative to the rocket so that it is oriented at its zero-lift angle of attack during boost, probably just under 10-deg or so. What makes these gliders perform so well is the cambered airfoils, the wings are not flat, so to help them retain that curved shape they are laminated and you kind of curl them before the glue dries to match a jig provided in the kit. Any delta wing planforms would probably be fine, but some of the typical wing planforms probably need to be laminated one or two extra layers of the card stock cut from scraps of the included sheets in the kit, maybe just a strip along the peak of the curve on the bottom of the wing. Adding carbon fiber to one of those might make it too heavy, but you could compensate by making the wing a little bigger.

 

[tab28682]

Just to clarify, I am talking about adding just enough pultruded C/F rod to make the structure much less likely to fail in boost. For instance, .020 carbon rod weights in at .008 grams per inch. You could add 10 inches as a wing spar or as a fuse reinforcement for less than 1/10 of a gram.

 

[GlenP]

 

[Rktman]

Yes . . . I had one, "back in the day" .

Dave F.

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Might be interesting to do a 137% 24mm version using lightweight 1/32" contest balsa papered with the printed templates. Think I'll try it, shouldn't be hard to do.

 

[Ez2cDave]

The Centuri Hummingbird was a rocket glider...

Nope, it was a Boost Glider . . . It "spit" the motor, at ejection.

A "Rocket Glider" retains all parts, whereas a Boost Glider, separates into at least 2 sections or jettisons the motor.

Dave F.