Bill, I recall Mark Smith using screw top 35 mm film cannisters to hold the lead shot in the Windfree. When I had a ship like that I placed tubes that could be loaded from the side, like a wingpin, and then a piece of tape held them in. Simple. Chris -----Original Message----- From: Bill Harris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, February 22, 2001 1:17 PM Subject: [RCSE] competitive nostalgia? >This upcoming flying season I plan to fly a couple of nostalgia planes (a Windfree and an Olympic 99) and want to get them as competitive as possible. I'm thinking ballast. > >The Windfree flies well and penetrates reasonably well, but at 26 oz AUW, she's a floater. I'm thinking that a few ounces of ballast will help in the wind. The question is "how to add ballast"? >With the plug-in wings there is no "under the wing" area to use. Two possibilities: drill the (assembled and covered) wings to insert 1/2" diameter ballast tubes. Lead rod, 1/2" in diameter weighs 16 oz/foot and 6" per side is do-able. But I don't know how much this will weaken the thin wing ribs. Another possibility is to make ballast compartments in the fuse, accessible from the top and on the CG, for the ballast. I think I can add some 17-18 ounces that way. But I don't know how much that would weaken the fuse. And lastly, I could bolt on a pair of "ballast pods" on the sides of the fuse, under the wing. Least intrusive, but DRAGGY. > >The Oly 99 will be easy to add ballast to: it has a HUGE area under the wings for ballast boxes. The downside of the old Oly 99 is that she just doesn't like windy conditions with that ole' undercambered wing. Would ballast help, or should I just plan to fly that ship in calm air? > >I've not finished the restoration on the Oly yet, and I have no idea what her flight characteristics will be. > >What sort of target wing loading should I ballast for? If I start with a wing loading of 5 oz/ft^2, I should ballast to what, 7 oz/ft^2 and 10oz/ft^2 ? > >Thanks, > >--Bill >RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
