Radi C ntr lled - Radio Controlled Soaring Digest

’wing remains a rare beast. However, a
well designed swept ’wing will possess
unique qualities. It will circle and
climb effortlessly in thermals at quite
extraordinary angles of bank. It will also
be very stall resistant, and compared
to a similar spanned and loaded plane,
a ’wing will tend to be quicker. Also to
my eye they just look so damn elegant,
which I guess is why I just can’t stop
building them!
A few years back I found myself living
a fair distance from my favourite slope,
but had a playing field nearby that I
could fly from. I decided to build a ‘wing
with an electric motor setup for flat field
thermaling. I selected a thick EH wing
section, the cores came out fine (using
pink foam) so I made an attempt to bag
them using wax paper. Unfortunately
the finish was less than impressive with
numerous air bubbles in the lay-up. I
threw the whole lot in the back of the
garage and left them there to sulk.
A year later I moved house and they
moved with me, but sat in the shed for
another year. Then a few weeks ago I
stumbled across the cores again and
made an impromptu decision to sling
them together as a rough and ready light
40
The 2 meter wing, flaps deployed coming in.
Photo by Steve Hunt
R/C Soaring Digest