Nahhhh John.  More airfields here - I have one at my disposal 24/7!   
Its flat. Its Yorkshire.  Now what more can a man want?
Will be safe here.....

Stamford bridge - ha!  I'm a Yorkshireman, we dont hide behind anyone. ... and if we do, we head to Old Trafford!  A world tour, well I am sure I can get some time off and if you are paying - then book the flights for me!!!
Kev

Obscenely beautiful!!!!

Well folks, it's finished   Final weight is 118 grams at a 50% CG. Decided to clean up the wing and forward part of the fuselage pod with a coat of Tamiya Silver Leaf spray laquer which add 2/10's of nothing to the weight.

I have not calculated the wing loading but it is under 10grams/ sq Dm which is an improvement over the Morris Dancer (plans of which I have stared to draw up and it includes refinements not posted on the original thread). Now I need some decent weather to try it out.

Ployd

The Discus Dancer has flown....of sorts.

Took the model out on Thursday afternoon and gave it a test glide, looked alright, so gave it a gentle heave and it went up to the left, transitioned and stalled all the way down to the right. I put in a bit more right rudder (I had installed about 5 grams of lead on the right wing tip to aid transition) and give it another twirl, went up okay then went into a right hand death spiral. Oh..s**t. Picked up the model and about 2" of the nose had split open (couldn't find the lead shot) so I went home.

I spent Friday repairing the nose and adding more weight (CG now about 46%), increased the longitudinal dihedral about 1 degree and checked the wing for warps. I found that the right wing tip had washin which was quickly steamed out and at the same time I steamed in 1 degree of washout in the left hand tip.

Come Saturday afternoon I went back down to the local park and did several test glides ala Javelin style and now found the right turn was too tight so reduced the rudder offset to zero and gave it a twirl. It had lost nothing in the climb or transition and the death spiral threat had disappeared but the glide is now more open and wanders from left circles to right AND I need a bigger park.

It would appear that the larger span model needs a different approach to trimming than the 36" span Morris Dancer and Mark Benn alluded to this with the big one he is sorting out and I think that some form of warps are needed to control the glide (the left hand wing panels are flat!). Equally rudder trim only needs to be a nats whisker left or right to affect the glide.

This model will need more air time before I can understand what the model is really doing in the first 10 seconds of flight because it will set up everything else, but the glide is a floater

Ployd

Hi Rey

I am unsure of the reasons for the different trim approach on this model but size maybe behind it  ??? Given that it has a wing area 36% larger than the Morris Dancer for the same weight (120 grams), the loading is starting to come down towards the F1H glider (A/1) regime and will be a bit more efficent aerodynamically hence the trimming rethink. I get the impression that this model will work better in lighter conditions (that was the intent) and a more open glide may be the price to be paid.

Like I said, a different approach may be needed for larger versions but what it should be I am still finding out.

On a different tack, encourage your 7 year old daughter with her P-30, great that she is having a go

Ployd

Hi Bruce
Thanks for the vote of confidence but I have not resorted to any drastic trimming measures just yet until the DD has had some more air time. Speaking of which, I managed to sneak down to the local park during a change in the weather (just had our hottest spring day since records were kept…..36.6 C or just under 100 F in old money  ) and got in several flights before the wind came up.

The first flight wandered left and right with a slight stall so I added a poofteenth of right rudder (about 1mm) and tried again, this time consistent right turns still with a bit of stall.

When I got home I added some more nose weight and the CG is now at 45% and I think that will cure the stall. (Wing is set at +2 degrees and stab at – 1) If the stall persists I will consider turbulators (which was suggested in another topic) and un-necessary on the Morris Dancer because the top spar cap was placed on top of the wing surface instead flush.

The model has survived a spiral dive without major structural damage but the launch technique does put the wing under strain to the extent that I have “popped” the top spar cap in several places on the inboard wing (possible from insufficient adhesive) so my tip to anyone building a DLG is to make absolutely sure that any carbon reinforcing is well glued in place because if there is a weakness, the launch will find it!

In terms of practicality, the Morris Dancer (36” span) is the ideal size for DLG (both in transport and material) while the Discus Dancer shows more potential, the wing construction, be it solid balsa or built up requires further engineering as it is still flexible despite the amount of carbon used and the carbon/balsa spar bound with Kevlar as suggested by “FAI” Kev may not be as silly as it sounds. For the construction I use and for solid balsa wings, a vertical carbon spar at least 12 thou thick set along the hi-point line and carbon caps top and bottom would be the way to go.

Ployd

Hi Max

I cannot answer your question at this stage as I have never had "dead air" to fly in; it's usually 1 to 3 mph when I do my testing and most contests are flown in wind
All I can say is that I try to launch slightly left of wind to aid transistion, launch dead ahead and it will invariably do a big loop (and be prepared to duck!)

Ployd