Monthly Archives: January 2007

Small Squirrel Bi-Plane

Experimental, Sighting

Another way to increase the wing area is to add more wings! Here’s George’s Squirrel Biplane experiments.

Darcy:

Here’s a couple biplanes. Differing in design, they are both very good fliers. The first has a 9 in. span and a 2 in. chord. It weighs 8 grams including rubber. The second has a 6 3/4 in. span and a 2 3/4 in. chord. It weighs 9 grams including rubber. Both are powered by shaved-down 5 in. props. Each plane took about 3 hrs. to build. The fun continues.

Cheers

George

 

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Smaller Squirrels

Experimental, Sighting

More from George Clark out in BC.

Now we’re going for the other extreme.

He is now experimenting with small Squirrels.

Darcy:
Here’s my latest, the Little Squirrel, and it’s a beauty. Wingspan – 10 in. Chord – 3.5 in. Total weight – 8.5 grams. The prop is 5 in., shaved down to save weight. Excellent wing loading of .24 g/ sq. in. Anything below .5 g/sq. in. will fly, but the lighter the better. I cut the wing from a single sheet of 3/32 contest balsa in order to save the added weight of glued joints, and gave it an airfoil shape. Test flights with a single short loop of 1/8 rubber prove that this little plane will disappear in a hurry unless care is taken to give it a large enough field to fly in.
Cheers
George

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Huge Squirrel from Surrey, BC

Experimental, Sighting


Here’s another stretched Squirrel picture from George in BC, Canada.

It’s interesting to see the different ways people experiment with the design parameters.

Darcy:

The first has a 4 in. chord and an 18 in. span. The prop is undersized –

6 in., and will be replaced with a 7.5 in. prop. Total weight 14 grams, for an excellent wing loading of .19 grams/sq. in. With two loops of 1/8 rubber it goes like a scalded cat, nearly vertically,

the too-small prop churning furiously. The second plane, the Giant

Squirrel, has a 36 in. span with a 4 in. chord. Total weight – 36 grams, for a very good .25 grams/sq. in. wing loading. It flies fairly well with a 9.5 in. prop, but I am going to substitute an 11 in. prop for better performance. This one is definitely for calm air flying as the wing is prone to flexing in windy conditions.

Cheers

George Clarke

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