Swing wing--your thoughts helpful/needed

[hornet driver]

So, for the last two years most of my stuff has been to try little bits and pieces of stuff I might need to do to build a swing wing design I've been thinking of. I want to base it off the Interceptor E--no surprise to anyone---Phase one , was the Timberwolf--Flew well but with a very fast glide--as expected--By the way dinged a tail fin on her the other day but no big deal----Phase two--Tigerwolf, worked out a lot of the wing box structure as well as muliti engine launches as did Timberwolf with the booster--Have not flown Tiger on 4 yet--The Wraith-- Phase three-- worked out well with the leading edge extensions--no real problems----Here's the deal, been planning a swing wing BG based on the Big E for a while--two concepts came out --the first-and most likely is something that looks like a B-1R, The second is a forward swept wing--the strake would deploy as the wings---sorta something from the movie Stealth.A lot of unknowns with that idea and some structural considerations too. So , what do you guys think I should do as far as deploying the wings at the same time and equally,Remember this is a boomtube design--so the pivot point is rearward from the normal bg, I've already settled on a V tail, just easier and lighter than than a convensional with a tube.The forward swept version would be a canard--Timberwolf proved the concept---Down side of the forward swept idea--- It really loads the tail end in launch mode--that whole cg/cp thing--I'm leaning towards the standard B-1-F-111 approach-----I'm thinking a gear structure---sort of like the old Revell F-111 kit might work. seems lite enough to reproduce for the ship. Challenge--I do not want springs and rubberbands poking out everywhere--needs to be clean!----Ideas? I've been playing with this thing for a while--I need a winter project---It will be 29mm--I don't see a way around that! Any ideas are welcome -------Ok, beat me up now:sigh:

 

[fyrwrxz]

Oh HO! No sticks here my friend- sounds awesome! I actually built that Revell model long ago. Maybe somebody with a rapid prototyper can help with the gear system? Somewhere I have the parts for an aborted 29mm Tomcat project- just hated that deployment system tho'. Cue the encouragement applause!

 

[BABAR]

Here is my Two cents
You will need some sort of actuator to pull your wings into position. This is one I developed using carbon fiber tube for rotor actuation where the pull force and the stop are integrated into a single unit. I can't pull the YouTube URL on my iPad, but if you google apogee helicopter rocket YouTube the video Tim Van Milligan starts out with is my rocket. I think this would work on a swing wing. Yes you will have two carbon fiber tubes on the external surface of the model (I used square tubes) but looking at the stealth movie plane they could probably be integrated into the looks of the model. The tubes slide over nylon monofilament. All of the elastic is contained inside the model out of site. The air resistance didn't seem to affect rotor rotation on my model, but many of my choppers are no fast spinners. So not sure how much it would affect your glide.

In any case, just a thought. Your plan is obviously going to be an engineering challenge as well as an artistic one.

 

[caveduck]

I used to make swing wing R/Gs for competition...after many iterations I used a system with a ~1" axle sandwiched between slabs of balsa or ply...contest rubber was attached along the the semicircular end of the wing and anchored somewhere back along the body. It provides near constant actuation torque and the part inside the hinge assembly is completely invisible. I think for your application the whole thing could be hidden perfectly. The contest rubber is *much* better than any kind of elastic, deployment is almost totally reliable.

Due credit: IIRC this arrangement was pioneered by the late great Al Nienast of Wisconsin.

 

[iter]

Somewhere I have the parts for an aborted 29mm Tomcat project- just hated that deployment system tho'. Cue the encouragement applause!

Well I for one would love to see you finish and fly it!

Ari.