> I am 90% done with the airframe of my dragon fly I am intending to power it
> with a 13b. Any comments? Anyone seen a rotary powered dragonfly? would
> make quite a buzzz.....
Would I be better to use a 12a or 10a?
will the aluminum side plates being made still work with those
engines?
--
Thanks,
Brent Hasty
It is not better to use a 10A as parts are rare.
The 12A is about the same weight as a 13B so it is best to use
a 13B and get aluminum side housings from Racing Beat. That will
knock off 50 pounds off the engine weight. Your firewall forward
weight, assuming you put the rads up there, will then be about
260 pounds if you are careful with details. The big problem with
excess weight on the Dragon Fly is the landing gear is on the ends
of the canard. That will make it hard to land without huge bounces
and broken canards. I would also consider getting a drag racing
parachute for emergencies use to slow you down in case you overshoot
or are going too fast to stop comfortably. Canards land faster than
conventional airplanes. For maximum effectiveness pop the
chute as soon as you touch down or just before.
You cannot have too much power for a high altitude short strip
so consider a p-port engine. Nothing in Utah is sea level. Hold it
on the ground until you have good aileron authority otherwise it
will head for the fence if you pull it off too soon.
Also make sure you get an electric variable pitch
prop as that will help getting out of that 2500 foot strip.
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
It is the quickie that has the wheels on the wing tips, my bird is a dragonfly
mark II which is a tail dragger with a hoop type front landing gear mounted to
the center of the forward wing.
I was planning a couple pneumatically actuated airbrakes that pop up behind the
rear wing on each side of the top fuselage, as this is a very aerodynamically
clean bird to bring to a stop.
I am also planning to invest in a ballistic recovery parachute for the whole
plane.
From the lists discussion I am leaning more toward a single rotor turbocharged,
turbo compounded when we get that figured out.........
I do have a nice municipal airport just 10 miles away I will make use of with a
paved strip, just nice to bring it home to my own barn for the winter.
Brent Hasty
The Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site.
http://www.rotaryeng.net
Copyright 1998-2006 All world wide rights reserved.