General control line discussion > Open Forum
What is the advantage of an I beam wing?
Patrick Finnigan:
Dang, that sounded interesting, I was hoping to find plans.
Howard Rush:
I'm not sure what you want, but I can fill you in on some history. The Bad News airplanes were Paul Walker designs, and were predecessors of the Impact series. The Impacts all have, as far as I know, the same 700-square-inch wing with minor flap chord changes. Some of them had I-beam wings. These didn't have the traditional, single-template logarithmic-spiral I-beamer airfoil, but had ribs individually plotted (assuming that Paul didn't wimp out and make only one template). Two of these I-beamers, if I remember correctly, had the distinction of winning every contest they entered except the September 10, 2006 R. F. Stevenson Memorial. One of them had a lovely fluorescent paint job so bold that Paul's young daughter asked if it was "for reals", hence Robby's comment above. It was later repainted in a much more mundane scheme. Paul is currently at a stunt contest trying to match my record of being undefeated in the Southern Hemisphere. He is flying the Flaming Dog Head Airplane, which is really an Impact in wolf's clothing.
Edited to add a picture.
RandySmith:
Advantage of I beam is all the rib trimming practice you will get
All the sanding practice
All the repairing paper cuts and paper fuzzing on covering at the edges of ribs
All the tedious rib top sanding and polishing practice you will get
Massive amounts of practice time you will get learning to rub out the finish between the ribs
You will be so incredibly proficient at all of the above.. you will become an instant World class Expert on all the sanding and finish/polishing tricks :-)
Not to mention if you use polyspan, you will learn worlds about "polyfuzz"
Randy #^ #^
Curt D Contrata:
They a so make excellent Hornet Catchers, and make a spectacular scene when hitting a fence and or ceiling fan.
Curt
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