 RC Models: RC Model Nitro Airplanes
Posted bywondertrail on Thursday, June 19 @ 00:16:32 EDT
Contributed by wondertrail
A radio-controlled aircraft often called RC aircraft or RC airplane, is a model aircraft that is controlled remotely, typically with a hand-held transmitter and a receiver within the craft. The receiver controls the corresponding servos that move the control surfaces based on the position of joysticks on the transmitter, which in turn move the plane.
Flying RC aircraft as a hobby has been growing worldwide with the advent of more efficient motors both electric and internal combustion, lighter and more powerful batteries and less expensive radio systems. Nitro 2 stroke engines and gas powered 2 and 4 stroke engines have progressed into very effective and efficient power systems with new alloys and fuels that have made them unsurpassed in power and responsiveness. The nitro engines use nitro methane and oil blends while the 2 and 4 stroke gas engines use oil and gas mixtures.
There are many types of radio-controlled aircraft. For beginning hobbyists, there are park flyers and trainers. For more advanced pilots there are glow plug engine, electric powered and sailplane aircraft. For expert flyers, jets, pylon racers, helicopters, 3D aircraft, and other high end competition aircraft provide adequate challenge. You can also build scale models of manned aircraft. Other sport aircraft are designated for scale-like flying referred to as scale. Scale is a very demanding but rewarding aspect of the hobby.
The easiest planes to fly are typically ones that have a high wing, or a wing that is on top or above the planes fuselage. Wing dihedral being the bend or change of angle in wing relative to fuselage or polyhedral, are also common. Most trainers and park flyers have this configuration.
These planes hold most of their weight under the canopy of the wing structure and tend to react more like a glider. For this reason, they are very stable and easy to fly. If a high wing plane is out of control, stability can often be regained by returning the controls to a neutral position, allowing the plane to naturally fall back into a gliding position. Because of the wing shape, wing position, and drag under the wing due to the fuselage, these planes fly slower than their mid and low wing counterparts, but can usually do some aerobatic maneuvers. High wings are typical of many vintage private planes, such as the Piper Cub and the Cessna 170.
Low wing planes offer a higher level of flying difficulty because the weight of the plane sits on top of the wing structure, making the balance a bit top heavy. Most wing configurations provide a slight dihedral to provide a bit more balance during flight.
The weight distribution and wing position of a low wing plane provides a good balance of stability and maneuverability. The planes moment of inertia about the rotation axis is lower because it is closer to the wing, therefore rolls require much less torque and are more rapid than a high wing plane. Low wings are typical of World War II war planes and many newer passenger planes and commercial jets.
Mid-wing planes are usually considered the most difficult to fly. The wings are usually located right in the vertical middle of the fuselage, near the bulk mass of the aircraft. Very little leverage is needed to turn and rotate the plane's weight.
Mid-wings are often straight without any dihedral providing an almost symmetrical aerodynamic structure. This allows the plane to be relatively balanced whether right-side up, upside-down, or any other position. This is great for military jets, sport planes and aerobatic planes, but less advantageous for the learning pilot. Because of this symmetry, the plane doesn't really have any natural or stable flying position, like the high wing planes, and will not automatically return to a stable gliding position.
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