So at a fuel burn of 1.5 litres an hour what is the engine output, 5HP?
It’s sort of reverse engineering, make a full size from model technology :diablo:
That wing has a nice fat section for a carbon fibre spar. Are you sure that aerofoil has less drag than say a laminar flow section? Why didn’t they use a section like yours for the Mustang? Look at the history of NACA aerofoils, they go back long long time ago. How is it that all of a sudden peeble come up with new all singing all dancing aerofoils that have low drag yet look like they come off a high lift primary glider wing? I’m not trying to be negative but in aviation there seems to be nothing new, only variations on a theme. This appears to be a variation of a model. I still recon you would get better reception not calling it a Spitfire but a Magot or a larvae of some sort seeing it hasn’t flown yet, at least in full size. 😀
The last undercarriage looked good, trailing link is always better for loads and feel. The Chilton monoplane had trousered legs and was a very attractive machine. Had a converted four cylinder sidevale car engine of very low output but still managed a resonable cruise speed.
SP
Hey thanks for the input SP !
The lowest output this kite can fly straight is at around 3 hp ( 0,75 liters/hr ).
The foil may look like its antique, but I actually interpolated with the state of the art Wortmann, Drela and Eppler foils..even a tad from latest Goe foil. It has way less drag and Cm than the iconic HPA foil fx63-137 which is really thin but this creates whole lotta more lift ( cl max 2.18 ). I used 2 months to do it with state of the art computer program. I claim it is a laminar foil…not like a Mustang foil was, but still laminar. Mustang foil was created for speed and low drag alone..lift for low speed is made with flaps and the huge engine rotating an enermous propeller that washes thrust to the flaps.
Chilton is one inspiration on this kite…mine is just 1/3 smaller than DW-1..more like Stitts Baby Bird sized. Also this LG is 1/3 in thickness of the DW-1 LG..way less drag.
For some reason this sorta looks like a classical british aeroplane..more like a Spitfire really ( or Hawker Siddley Hawk ), but Chilton gear.
The name of this kite is after the Jupiter’s 4th moon the IO ! But you are right this is a pure paper tiger until flown.
I checked that this might be able to fly to Darwin Australia from eastern Finland ( Fredrickshamn ) in 5 days at 120 liters of fuel on board with a lite pilot. I have no idea what kinda drugs it takes to fly straight 5 days..amfetamine ? Maybe 4 stops on the way would do good…fuel burn would be the same.
http://timezoneguide.com/distance-Australia/Darwin-Europe/Helsinki.html
It was discussed recently that no one actually studies weak powered flight ( except HPA folks )..all effort is in making airliners cost effective and UAVs have some action too. Mr Colomban has done Luciole and Leon Davis the DA 11 in this size category…and Burt Rutan Quickie model 54.
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