Upscale Estes Falcon Boost Glider

[n27sb]

Thinking about doing an upscale original Estes Falcon.

Any thoughts?

 

[Crawf56]

I like the idea. What is the design wingspan/motor, and what size were you wanting to move up to?

 

[n27sb]

https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/k-13.pdf
I think the original Falcon had a wingspan of about 10.5"
I would like to do something about 200 to 250%
Do you think that scaling this up would change how it flies?
Never took on anything like this.
Would an open camber/single surface type airfoil work.

 

[Initiator001]

The May 1970 issue of Model Rocketry magazine features an article with plans for an 'upscale' Falcon called the Thunder-Bird. This model would fly on B and C motors.

 

[n27sb]

The May 1970 issue of Model Rocketry magazine features an article with plans for an 'upscale' Falcon called the Thunder-Bird. This model would fly on B and C motors.

Does anyone have a copy of this out there?

 

[burkefj]

George Gassaway did an rc 2.5x a few years ago https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/estes-astron-falcon-boost-glider-kit-k-13.132422/

 

[n27sb]

Thank you burkefj for the link. I sent him a PM

 

[shuyge]

Does anyone have a copy of this out there?

You can download it from here:

https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ModelRocketry/Model_Rocketry_v02n08_05-70.pdf

 

[n27sb]

You can download it from here:

https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ModelRocketry/Model_Rocketry_v02n08_05-70.pdf

Thank you

 

[hermanjc]

I'm very interested in how this turns out. Good luck!

 

[Ez2cDave]

The MRM article for building the "Thunder Bord" was very interesting.

One thing that caught my attention was the wing airfoil and the use of what the Author called "buffer strips" . . .

I am puzzled by his references to "sound" & "noise" causing issues with the glider . . . I can only surmise that he was talking about harmonic vibration. To my mind, the real issue was Flutter and the Buffer Strips served to stiffen the Wing, without providing any "acoustic benefit" . . .

Thoughts ?

Dave F.

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[neil_w]

This thread has jogged my memory, I think I might have built one of these things as a kid. Definitely never flew it, and can't recall if I was able to trim it properly. Wonder what other builds I've forgotten.

 

[Aeronerd]

Thinking about doing an upscale original Estes Falcon.

Any thoughts?View attachment 427936

I would put a small amount of incidence into the stabilizer, maybe about one degree. I can't tell from looking at it or the Thunderbird whether there was some built in or not. But what I have learned is that rocket boosted gliders won't transition well or at all if there isn't some incidence in the either the wing or stabilizer.

 

[brewster_rockit]

Sorry to kick the tires on this thread, but just came across an interesting Falcon upscale. The "Sarge" was a "simple" rocket glider that used the mass shift from burning all the propellant in a mini motor to shift the CG for glide. Looks like a fun build! I'm working on a Falcon upscale as well, but planned to spit the motor with a streamer (as on the current version of Semroc Hawk.)

Sarge plan

 

[Ez2cDave]

Sorry to kick the tires on this thread, but just came across an interesting Falcon upscale. The "Sarge" was a "simple" rocket glider that used the mass shift from burning all the propellant in a mini motor to shift the CG for glide. Looks like a fun build! I'm working on a Falcon upscale as well, but planned to spit the motor with a streamer (as on the current version of Semroc Hawk.)

Sarge plan

The "Sarge" . . .

Dave F.

 

[georgegassaway]

George Gassaway did an rc 2.5x a few years ago https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/estes-astron-falcon-boost-glider-kit-k-13.132422/

Thanks Frank.

Here's a pic from that thread, 2.5X with original size.

Wing was 1/8" balsa with an iron-on plastic covering (not Monokote, something else. Maybe Towerkote). The wing seemed to flutter a bit on C6 boosts (well, it certainly fluttered when I did 3-stage boosts, do not think it did on single stage boosts). If I did it over, I'd have used 3/16" light balsa rather than 1/8".