Thoughts on designs
As a Steward at the AeroDesign West 2000 competition, and a
long-time competition flier, I noticed quite a few things that can
be improved in the basic designs and operations of the models..
Because it's a competition, things break at the worst times.. and
it's best to be prepared to handle such events..
This begins with the design.. don't build any equipment that can
break and must be repaired -into- the airframe. Don't bury anything
where it's inaccessible when time is short..
Here's two examples of good layout:
The throttle servo (a mini or micro works here) is close to the
motor. The tank is more than large enough for the short official
flight, and close to the motor.
The switch is up front, easily manipulated,
and the receiver battery is next to the tank. The battery itself need
not be of large capacity, -IF- its state
of charge is constantly monitored. A lengthy ground session checking
the motor for instance can deplete the battery so that it fails in flight. As the battery's
weight is an insignificant portion of the total, it might as well be
mounted where it's accessible.
The nose-steering servo is seperate from the rudder servo to keep
damage to the nose steering from affecting the rudder adjustment/trim. And it's
accessible thru the bottom of the nose. There's a window covered
with clear Monokote to check the condition of the servo without
opening the fuselage.
The forward mounted servos have extension harnesses instead of
having the servo harnesses themselves extended, to permit rapid
replacement with standard servos. The extension harnesses
themselves are placed underneath sub-structure that keeps them out
of the way when installing/removing ballast. Many teams had a rat's-nest of wiring
in and around the ballast, which interferes with installing and
removing the ballast and gets chafed/cut during operation.
The wheels are rollerblade wheels.. both cheap and tough (and
heavy).. The Tailwinds runway is so smooth an -empty- plane
with these wheels will roll 400 feet with the motor off after
landing.
.Landing gear....
....All together......Lifter tails
..Sparky's Main Menu.
SAE2000n13.htm...04-04-2004
Paul Burke .e-mail
