RADIO CONTROL SOARING
Dave Garwood 5 Birch Lane, Scotia, NY 12302 E-mail: dgarwood@logical.net
TECH TIPS from the '96 Nats
Big contests tend to bring out the best in fliers and flying techniques; they are also a place to see the latest in equipment and accessories. Here are some of the things I saw in Muncie:
Removable landing skegs
Skegs stop the airplane from sliding, which results in increased landing accuracy and improved ground safety. While they may be molded into a fuselage or attached with bolts, mounting with tape makes it easy to move them for fine-tuning and makes them removable in case you want to fly the same airplane in an event where skegs are not allowed (like F3B).
Our newest USA F3B team member, Gordon Jennings, explained that the skegs he was using were made from printed-circuit epoxy board and attached to a fiberglass base with epoxy containing chopped fiberglass strands. The skeg is built on a fuselage temporarily protected with clear plastic kitchen wrap, and is later attached to the fuselage in service with nylon filament tape.
Turbulator tape on fin and stabs
Michael Selig, director of the UIUC Low-Speed Airfoil Tests (LSATs) at the University of Illinois, was flying with zig-zag turbulator tape on the rear control surfaces of his Blackhawk. Michael, a guy who knows quite a bit about airflow, said the turbulation helps with low-speed handling. He is basing this on his wind-tunnel test data of the SD8020 airfoil.
Do not forget the need for continuing support of the airfoil testing and development project; without donations from modelers, they would not be in business. You can check the latest information at the UIUC LSATs website: http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/m-selig
To get a new '96–'97 edition UIUC LSATs T‑shirt and the recent 10-page Camberline newsletter, send a suggested donation and shipping as follows:
- Suggested donation: $15
- Shipping: $3
- Send to: Michael Selig, Dept. of Aero/Astro Engineering, UIUC, 306 Talbot Lab, 104 S. Wright St., Urbana, IL 61801-2935
- Make checks payable to: "University of Illinois"
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
