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Thinking about our next wood glider kit.. Ludion

The reason why I am asking these questions is because the model will be a wingeron - if not then no need.

Wingerons - contrary to intuition, don't work better than conventionally controlled models that use camber changing (Ailerons/flaps/elevator). Its easy to see, and by now most people have observed how a conventional stabiliser with an elevator works better than the all-moving type. Its exactly the same with the wing, only more so. I know people naturally think that rotating the entire wing rather than that little flap MUST work better - but it doesn't. Like I said above - CAMBER CHANGING is the most efficient way to change the forces on the wing.

Raison de etre: But - Never mind that! Making a wood wingeron model because the world needs a wood wingeron model - especially a blast from the past - and by the way I heartly agree with this and I'm going to have one if it comes to pass, is cool - but it can have its problems due to the obvious mechanical necessities, etc but also aerodynamic problems.

Some well-meant advice - and I know the design is not set in stone yet.

First the section. Its marked on the orginal drawing as E374?? but I see you have E193 used??
E193 was a commonly used section in the early 80's and noted for its nice glide ratio, but NOT noted for its aerobatic ability. In fact quite the opposite. Despite its thickness, its virtually flat bottomed as you can see from your CAD sketches, so most if not all of the desired inverted performance will be lost. That might be something to consider before moving along. Use of the combination of E193 AND dihedral - even a little - will set that model on rails - until it goes off the rails - see below.

Next the wing planform. Is it the idea to follow the wing planform of the Ludion? If it is, then as its drawn on the orginal drawing will work well, maybe a little more rear sweep might help a bit more, but as you have it mapped out (I know its only back of the napkin sketch at the monent) with the bias towards a higher trailing edge taper and lower leading edge angle, then it might have stability problems and just let go if pushed too hard. See below (!)

Last, that Dihedral. If the combination of Wingeron, thick, flat bottomed E193 section, modified wing planform AND dihedral are used you will have a model that is so stable it will be very reluctant to do anything other than fly in a straight line, and will be self-correcting to the extent that it will fly like a Hobie, pendulum wise, swinging from side to side with any variation in the wind and will balloon on the turns. But if pushed too hard, with the taper of the wing biased towards the leading edge, a complex reaction between the CG, and Mean Aerodynamic chord may cause sudden stalling. Since Its likely to be a light model then these effects will be magnified.

If the model is outlined as per the original drawing, the section kept to the E374 that is marked on the drawing (I just checked) and the dihedral forgotten then it will be a lovely little responsive low wind sloper. But E193, forward sweep on the planform and dihedral will not produce the desired results.

Just some advice.

Doc.
 
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The reason why I am asking these questions is because the model will be a wingeron - if not then no need.

Wingerons - contrary to intuition, don't work better than conventionally controlled models that use camber changing (Ailerons/flaps/elevator). Its easy to see, and by now most people have observed how a conventional stabiliser with an elevator works better than the all-moving type. Its exactly the same with the wing, only more so. I know people naturally think that rotating the entire wing rather than that little flap MUST work better - but it doesn't. Like I said above - CAMBER CHANGING is the most efficient way to change the forces on the wing.

Raison de etre: But - Never mind that! Making a wood wingeron model because the world needs a wood wingeron model - especially a blast from the past - and by the way I heartly agree with this and I'm going to have one if it comes to pass, is cool - but it can have its problems due to the obvious mechanical necessities, etc but also aerodynamic problems.

Some well-meant advice - and I know the design is not set in stone yet.

First the section. Its marked on the orginal drawing as E374?? but I see you have E193 used??
E193 was a commonly used section in the early 80's and noted for its nice glide ratio, but NOT noted for its aerobatic ability. In fact quite the opposite. Despite its thickness, its virtually flat bottomed as you can see from your CAD sketches, so most if not all of the desired inverted performance will be lost. That might be something to consider before moving along. Use of the combination of E193 AND dihedral - even a little - will set that model on rails - until it goes off the rails - see below.

Next the wing planform. Is it the idea to follow the wing planform of the Ludion? If it is, then as its drawn on the orginal drawing will work well, maybe a little more rear sweep might help a bit more, but as you have it mapped out (I know its only back of the napkin sketch at the monent) with the bias towards a higher trailing edge taper and lower leading edge angle, then it might have stability problems and just let go if pushed too hard. See below (!)

Last, that Dihedral. If the combination of Wingeron, thick, flat bottomed E193 section, modified wing planform AND dihedral are used you will have a model that is so stable it will be very reluctant to do anything other than fly in a straight line, and will be self-correcting to the extent that it will fly like a Hobie, pendulum wise, swinging from side to side with any variation in the wind and will balloon on the turns. But if pushed too hard, with the taper of the wing biased towards the leading edge, a complex reaction between the CG, and Mean Aerodynamic chord may cause sudden stalling. Since Its likely to be a light model then these effects will be magnified.

If the model is outlined as per the original drawing, the section kept to the E374 that is marked on the drawing (I just checked) and the dihedral forgotten then it will be a lovely little responsive low wind sloper. But E193, forward sweep on the planform and dihedral will not produce the desired results.

Just some advice.

Doc.
Just jumping in to let the group know how much I am enjoying reading and following this thread. I have an intellectual and pragmatic interest in model aircraft design and am stretching my neurons to absorb this discussion. My knowledge and real life experience has taught me some of the compromises between stability vs controllable aerobatic capability. I also am enjoying learning about the challenges in materials selection for a one off vs a potentially profitable production model. So, I will follow with interest and keep quiet unless I have wisdom to offer.
Raymond
 
I think I agree with all Doc said. I love the power of camber changing controls. I don't see where changing the flying stab to a fixed stab changes anything as far as control power. If the high mounted stab is an esthetic feature to be kept, I think all know of its cost.

As to the airfoil. I think in this time frame I was loving the RG15.
 
Just jumping in to let the group know how much I am enjoying reading and following this thread. I have an intellectual and pragmatic interest in model aircraft design and am stretching my neurons to absorb this discussion. My knowledge and real life experience has taught me some of the compromises between stability vs controllable aerobatic capability. I also am enjoying learning about the challenges in materials selection for a one off vs a potentially profitable production model. So, I will follow with interest and keep quiet unless I have wisdom to offer.
Raymond
Hi Raymond - if you want to see how I do it, look here:


There are a bunch of articles I wrote about designing model gliders.

Plus some construction breakthroughs: https://medium.com/rc-soaring-digest/the-aeroic-sine-wave-spar-a-game-changer-1e02537c3074

Cheers,

Doc.
 
As to the airfoil. I think in this time frame I was loving the RG15.
I loved Roland's foil too, Konrad - in fact I used it on several models...but, though not a bad as the E193, it didn't do so well inverted. The E374 on the orignal drawing is a good choice.

Problem is on a very small model like this you have to be really, really careful, as the bad effects of any design mistakes, if any, are amplified. At 40 to 50" span - air is damned thick and sluggish (sorry!).

To do this project well is far more difficult than designing say a 2M model, and once you get over 2M, it gets easier still to dissolve mistakes. Some things that you could easily get away with on a large model simply won't cut it on a small plane.

Wayne and Chris M will know what I mean when I say that we don't want Density to be the Destiny of this model. :cool:

I'm loving the project actually, and I'm really eager to see what wheezes Wayne and the adept Aloft team come up with for the mechanicals.

Refreshing - Thanks to Wayne for sharing it, I have to say.

Doc.
 
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Hi Raymond - if you want to see how I do it, look here:


There are a bunch of articles I wrote about designing model gliders.

Plus some construction breakthroughs: https://medium.com/rc-soaring-digest/the-aeroic-sine-wave-spar-a-game-changer-1e02537c3074

Cheers,

Doc.
Thanks for the links. I read them all and found them very interesting.
Raymond
 
Loving the discussion. Keep 'em coming.

I'm going with the E193 as that is the airfoil the designer changed too. See the updated article I posted in the first posting. Basically this plane was published in a French magazine. Then in a later issue the designer wrote an update on the design where he had made several changes. He simplified the wing linkage, he changed to the E193 and he moved the wing back about 2cm. I think there were some other changes to the fuselage structure. This is the plane I'm more or less looking to duplicate.

To be clear, I would never have picked the E193 on my own, but I am VERY curious to experience it. Here is a look at the profile of one of the ribs for reference:
Screen Shot 2022-08-26 at 9.43.57 AM.png

It is an interesting critter. To me it has a lot of under camber for a slope airfoil, it is fat, and I agree, it should have poor acro performance and no real energy retention.

So why give it a try? Well, the designer sure thought a lot of it and seems to have gone backwards with the design from the E374. Why in the world would he do that? Was he trying to make it more of a trainer? Was he dealing with really low lift beach site? (He does mention flying at Normandy Beach.) The site pictures do suggest a very low lift beach site, not a bigger cliff site. Maybe it is s better airfoil for whatever he was after.

Back in the 90's someone came to our slope site and gave one of the guys a free plane. No one had every seen this odd European plane. We all flew 48" span PSS planes at the time and we had very thin airfoils. This Euro plane had an airfoil something like the E193, maybe even more camber, and certainly not thin. Well the next week the new owner had the plane in flying condition and wer were all amazed at how fast the thing was. I no longer remember much about how it flew other than all of us giving the plane a closer study when it landed.

My point being, I looking forward to flying it with this airfoil. I want to experience it.

And this is that other magic thing about wingeron, they are easy to swap different wings. Just get the spar and drive pins in the same distances and you are good to go. ( I was looking at my Turbo the other day and I suspect I need to move the spar and wing pin closer together, or run longer servo arms. On the Turbo they are about 1" away from one another. I do have a wider fuselage, so a longer servo arm could be used that a Turbo can handle. I'm not worried about servo torque these days. LOL) I like to have the wing joiner pretty much on the CG, or slightly forward of it for a wingeron, so this one will probably need to move a little more forward. (Need to calculate the CG after the sweep is locked in, and adjust the spar.)

I have every intention of trying different airfoils on this plane. Different wing spans, different construction methods. (But we know how that goes.. LOL) The great thing about this wing software is that change is VERY easy to make. If left to my own personal choice I'd probably layup with the wing with no washout with an RG14 at the root and at the last 1/3 of the wing blend to an RG-15 at the tips. This wing would probably be foam cored.

Might be fun to play with the AG airfoils and a bit more span with some polyhedral for floating around.

I'd also like to play with some flaps on the wingeron layout. Martin H and I have been discussing this for a future kit for a long time now. I'd love to see it happen.

Nothing is final in this wing, not a single dimension is even correct! I have only been using it to learn the software and refine my thoughts.

I'm loving this and sharing the design considerations helps me refine my thoughts. I LOVE that everything is a compromise in aerodynamics.
 
Loving the discussion. Keep 'em coming.

I'm going with the E193 as that is the airfoil the designer changed too. See the updated article I posted in the first posting. Basically this plane was published in a French magazine. Then in a later issue the designer wrote an update on the design where he had made several changes. He simplified the wing linkage, he changed to the E193 and he moved the wing back about 2cm. I think there were some other changes to the fuselage structure. This is the plane I'm more or less looking to duplicate.

To be clear, I would never have picked the E193 on my own, but I am VERY curious to experience it. Here is a look at the profile of one of the ribs for reference:
View attachment 12040
It is an interesting critter. To me it has a lot of under camber for a slope airfoil, it is fat, and I agree, it should have poor acro performance and no real energy retention.

So why give it a try? Well, the designer sure thought a lot of it and seems to have gone backwards with the design from the E374. Why in the world would he do that? Was he trying to make it more of a trainer? Was he dealing with really low lift beach site? (He does mention flying at Normandy Beach.) The site pictures do suggest a very low lift beach site, not a bigger cliff site. Maybe it is s better airfoil for whatever he was after.

Back in the 90's someone came to our slope site and gave one of the guys a free plane. No one had every seen this odd European plane. We all flew 48" span PSS planes at the time and we had very thin airfoils. This Euro plane had an airfoil something like the E193, maybe even more camber, and certainly not thin. Well the next week the new owner had the plane in flying condition and wer were all amazed at how fast the thing was. I no longer remember much about how it flew other than all of us giving the plane a closer study when it landed.

My point being, I looking forward to flying it with this airfoil. I want to experience it.

And this is that other magic thing about wingeron, they are easy to swap different wings. Just get the spar and drive pins in the same distances and you are good to go. ( I was looking at my Turbo the other day and I suspect I need to move the spar and wing pin closer together, or run longer servo arms. On the Turbo they are about 1" away from one another. I do have a wider fuselage, so a longer servo arm could be used that a Turbo can handle. I'm not worried about servo torque these days. LOL) I like to have the wing joiner pretty much on the CG, or slightly forward of it for a wingeron, so this one will probably need to move a little more forward. (Need to calculate the CG after the sweep is locked in, and adjust the spar.)

I have every intention of trying different airfoils on this plane. Different wing spans, different construction methods. (But we know how that goes.. LOL) The great thing about this wing software is that change is VERY easy to make. If left to my own personal choice I'd probably layup with the wing with no washout with an RG14 at the root and at the last 1/3 of the wing blend to an RG-15 at the tips. This wing would probably be foam cored.

Might be fun to play with the AG airfoils and a bit more span with some polyhedral for floating around.

I'd also like to play with some flaps on the wingeron layout. Martin H and I have been discussing this for a future kit for a long time now. I'd love to see it happen.

Nothing is final in this wing, not a single dimension is even correct! I have only been using it to learn the software and refine my thoughts.

I'm loving this and sharing the design considerations helps me refine my thoughts. I LOVE that everything is a compromise in aerodynamics.
Well, its going to be interesting, but a really good point which of course I did not see - being oriented towards moulded models is - As Wayne says its not only easy to change wings/sections - he's going to do it!

If it were me, I think I might also go with foam cut wings for the first few if I had the intention to change them as its way faster than a built-up structure, but thats just another option.

To prevent absolute disaster from the biginning though, I would advise giving the wing planform a really good look before committing even to a test model.

Like I said - Interesting.:cool:

Cheers,

Doc.
 
I am really enjoying this thread! I flew slope for fun, never raced, back in the 80's then got side tracked for a few decades. When I got back into it a couple years back I found myself searching for the types of kits I had built back then, Gentle Lady, Challenger, Ridge Rat, Sagitta 600 and Mini Merlin. So to hear you say your going to build a plane from that era, you have my complete attention. I know little about designing airplanes but I love learning as I read post from those of you that have that talent and knowledge. I say full speed ahead Wayne!!
 
Since we got our large format printer up and running I was able to print a 50% plan. Now I can get the measurements I need from this.
bigger - 1.jpeg

So nice not to tile smaller pages!
 
I ended up printing one at 100%, it looks so huge, but holding up a modern 2 meter plane, about the same dimensions. Just looks larger on paper.
 
Since we got our large format printer up and running I was able to print a 50% plan. Now I can get the measurements I need from this.
View attachment 12074
So nice not to tile smaller pages!
The Artful Dodger - as Charlie Dickens would have it.

You know, the more I look at that well-proportioned and nice looking model (I'd reverse the wing taper - but thats me) the more difficulty I have trying to figure out why on earth he'd change the quite arobatic but still lifty E374 section to a non-aerobatic but faster and even more lifty E193.
Hmmm...there must have been a reason. I wonder if the orginals came out too heavy? I see the wing is completely sheeted. Maybe he had a not so lifty flying site?
Very mysterious.:unsure:

Just (another) thought: The 45 degree angles for the stringers on the formers make a hard job out of making the fuse - maybe square stringers sanded down on the outside? Easier/stronger? Anyway, as always I could go on giving advice for ever - but if the machine works...and anyway it 'aint my project.:p

Doc.
 
Please share away!

OK - My French sucks.. Only took a semester in school. I had assumed the wing was open structure, does it say sheeted? I now see it says something about in balsa. No plans for me to sheet these test wings. That would be a pain. I'd switch over to foam cores for that. Especially with the E193 airfoil. (This is why I added the half ribs up front, for additional film support.)

You and I are of the same mind for the wing taper. I'm 100% sure after I fly the mostly stock version that I will open the flood gates for redesign and will be making some changes to what I think will make it better for my flying. Pretty sure it will be smaller and the wing will be very different. Construction methods may well change.. Who knows.
 
My French isn't very good either, and the plan isn't really clear to see what the words are. But looking at the plan i would say that yes this is a sheeted wing. There is no trailing edge piece and no turbulators across the leading edge area that you would normally find in a open structure wing. Also if you look at the picture in the article (the one in color) there is no covering sag between the ribs so it's a sheeted wing.

you are right with the foam core wings being easier to cut and put on the plane also for trying out different airfoils.

Hank
 
My French isn't very good either, and the plan isn't really clear to see what the words are. But looking at the plan i would say that yes this is a sheeted wing. There is no trailing edge piece and no turbulators across the leading edge area that you would normally find in a open structure wing. Also if you look at the picture in the article (the one in color) there is no covering sag between the ribs so it's a sheeted wing.

you are right with the foam core wings being easier to cut and put on the plane also for trying out different airfoils.

Hank
ALOFT NEEDS A CNC CORE CUTTER! ALOFT NEEDS A CNC CORE CUTTER! ALOFT NEEDS A CNC CORE CUTTER!

What...who said that??

Doc.
 
I had one and gave it away. They are a fair amount of work to feed them, I think this may be best outsourced.
 
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