8/31/10

BORN LOSER C OF G

We had a question a few days ago about the balance point of the Born Loser.
I put the question to Kermit Walker, who made this model, and here's his response. Kermit has a medical procedure coming up next week and we wish him all the best. T

I got my Born Loser out and checked its C of G is (fore and aft balance point, more correctly). It balances roughly 1/2" back from the leading edge of the TOP wing. I seem to remember starting out with the "CG" a bit further back (like at roughly the LE of the bottom wing), but had to add a bit of nose weight. It also has quite a bit of left rudder - like at least 1/8" and maybe more. It also has quite a bit of washin in both left wings - something like 1/8" in the bottom wing and more like maybe 5/32"/3/16" in the upper wing. The right wing panels are roughly flat, as is the horizontal stabilizer. I did make a provision for an adjustable incidence stab (fixed middle spar, with the LE "floating" in a tapered slot in the fuselage and the LE just tack-glued to the front of the slot. I started out with the LE of the stab at roughly half way down the tapered slot (like maybe 1/16" negative) and have never found it necessary to change (figures! if I had made it "fixed" with no adjustment possible, it would've needed some!). I would probably set up the model with different adjustments for outdoors - like maybe 1/2 as much left rudder and washin in the left wings. The amount of left rudder I have in it now is to be able to get it to circle tight enough consistently so as to not hit the walls at St. V's gym Oh, also, I have just a smidge of right thrust built into it. Please feel free to use whatever of the above you might feel to useful on the website. --Kermit Walker

1 comment:

Dave W said...

Kermit helped me trim my Born Loser - so it flies well, but not as well as Kermit's!

Incidentally, an "Al Backstrom Memorial Cookup" is happening now on Hip Pocket Aeronautics (and other forums) to honor the model's designer who passed away recently.