[Frank Colver]

Frank,

I believe the truncated tips can be a huge force in the dive recovery system (as on the ASG-21), on your proposed new trainer design. I have a few thought to add, there at the tips.

The shorter, the thinner (in wall thickness). and the smaller (in diameter) that the trunk tube can be, the better. If junction plates and bolts are used at the end of the trailing edge, I would suggest using thinner, high-strength plate alloys there, and maybe even hardened aluminum bolts (or aircraft-grade blind rivets), to save weight. Any extra weight at the tips will reduce the good handling and turning of the glider.

The truncated tip goes rearward from the leading edge, but the angle of change may be too sharp, as now proposed. A much shorter trunk tube, also smaller in diameter and with a thinner wall thickness, may be continued outward by a flexible tip wand rather than aluminum. The flexible tip wand may be more "survivable" in a dragged-tip landing, also. A wingtip that "gives" a little will be more forgiving (in ground contact) than a rigid wingtip, for the student.

I believe the glider wingtips would benefit (aerodynamically) by adding some roach (not much) to the trailing edge, with benefits both for handling and for weight reduction (as in more sail area with less metal framework).

Bent wishes.

Thanks Red.

Still putting more mind and body effort into building the model right now. A lot of detail design effort is still ahead when going to the full scale glider. Getting it to fold easily and compactly is going to be a big part of that.

Frank

[Frank Colver]

So, I can't sew a sail for the scale model and I intend to cover it with iron on model airplane film called "Coverite". It has a heat setting adhesive coating that activates well below the temperature at which the film starts to shrink and of course I won't be shrinking the covering on this model.

The question: How does one put iron on covering on a model in which not all elements are supported by a rigid frame and the rib battens are flexible and easily distorted by downward pressure?

The answer: Provide a temporary rigid structure that supports the battens in their correct positions and can be removed after the covering material has been adhered to the battens with a hot iron.

To do this I made the battens into full ribs, using corrugated cardboard, that extend from the underside of each batten rod to the virtual bottom surface of the glider structure. Then I made a base structure that holds each rib in place and vertical. The base structure captures the bottom of each rib without being attached to it. After it's covered, the whole glider structure can be lifted out of this rib base holding jig. Then the cardboard ribs can be cut loose from the batten rods, where small strips of tape holds them, and removed. Now the underside of each batten can be securely taped to the underside of the covering material. The heat activated adhesive is not strong enough by itself.

Seems like this will work. What could possibly go wrong? Murphy is standing by.

Frank Colver

Jigged for covering side view.JPG (457.24 KiB) Viewed 3154 times

Jigged for covering front view.JPG (415.71 KiB) Viewed 3154 times

[Frank Colver]

I'm going to change the center batten. I'm now thinking that the reflex is too abrupt. I'll go back and spread it out over more of the rear portion of that batten rib. This will be similar to what the Condor 330 does with a loop that goes around the rear kingpost cable and lifts the rear of the sail center pocket.

Because I used the "Swallow Tail" design, the center rib reflex should be very effective in trimming the glider for a more forward CG and good pitch stability.

Enjoying my toasty desert cabin right now. When I get back to this project I'll reform the center batten, make a new cardboard support, and post a photo of it.

BTW- The cardboard support of the center batten will stay with the glider from the cross spar back to the tail. This will simulate the center sail pocket and act as a vertical stabilizer to reduce the effects of adverse yaw.

Frank

[Frank Colver]

I'm also going to elevate the trailing edge of ribs 5 so as to tension the sail, when under positive load, a little more at the tip. Hopefully reaching a good compromise between tip efficiency and weight shift roll control.

That said, let me ramble on about this project and its future.

This would be a very good project for a university with a well funded and gung-ho aeronautical engineering department to take up. A group of good minds and with technical equipment like computer modelling and wind tunnel testing could optimise a basic trainer design. You have realized by now that I am doing "seat-of-the-pants design engineering on this quest for the ideal hang gliding trainer. I'm using years of experience in designing, building, and flying R/C gliders along with having designed, built, and taught myself to fly a high performance rigid wing hang glider in 1971 & '72.

Back in those days i had more time than money. Today it is just the opposite. Had I been able to afford hiring Blue Water Sails, the company Dick Eipper worked for, to make me a sail for my wing I might have had a flex wing glider very close to the single surface wings flying today. I possibly would have missed the concept of the deep keel pocket to help with weight shift transfer of billow and I know I would not have conceived of the floating cross spar used for the same purpose. By God that cross spar has to be bolted to the keel! Ah, we live on and we learn from others. But, having little "disposable income" I built a rigid flying wing for probably not more than $100. I didn't keep track of expenses but I think that is a good guess. Here are the particulars:
The leading edges were 2" OD, 6061-T6 "Rain For Rent" irrigation tubing, full of scratches from old extrusion dies.
The trailing edges were dirt cheap titanium 3/4" x .022 wall tubing from Douglas Aircraft surplus sales.
Other parts were aluminum tubing from the same source.
The ribs were cheap plywood.
The whole thing was held together by steel carton strapping tape generously donated by Bob Seymour, my employer at that time.
The covering was polyester dress lining from Penny's Dept Store.
The sealant was urethane varnish from Ace Hardware (which turned an ugly shade of brown over time in the sun).
The fiberglass sleeve that joined the two halves together at the cross spar was made by me using old prepreg cloth I had pulled from Taylor Fiber Co's dump, by the railroad tracks, in La Verne, CA. I wrapped it around a tube covered with polyester film and baked it in my kitchen oven until it set. Amazing that it still set after years of storage in my garage.
Ah, but the Colver Skysail flew and it flew well but was definitely not a "hang gliding basic trainer".

So, yes one can do a lot with a little but can do more with more.

I have noticed a lot of interest in this thread judging by the large number of views over its short lifetime. However, there are not enough comments and suggestions to come close to the number of views. Let's hear from some of the "lurkers" viewing this thread. What are your interests? Are some of you from an university areo sciences class? I hope so. Are some of you just waiting to see if I come close to achieving my goal of an easy trainer to revive hang gliding with younger pilots? Are some looking for a future product? Are some waiting to gloat if i fail? My blessings to you all. Please, speak up!

I have a lot of confidence in achieving at least some measure of my goals here but with full knowledge that others will improve upon whatever I have started. I sure hope so.

A lot of today's pilots learned to fly in a "standard Rogallo" which was not quite so easy to launch but was easy to ground handle, fly, and land. But It had a lot of shortcomings aerodynamically and required a steep hill to train on. i'm trying to achieve the same ease of learning without the shortcomings. Hopefully, the glide path will be longer (it should be) so that shallower hills can be used.

Press on,
Frank Colver

[Frank Colver]

Here's a photo of my change to the center and tip batten rib design for the scale model. The reflex in the center is more gradual and will accommodate the sail layout better. The tip batten is raised to begin the tip twist and reduce the billow under positive load.

The solid support material under the center batten, from the cross spar back to the TE, will stay with the model to provide some vertical stabilizer effect to control yaw. On a full scale version this would be part of the keel sail pocket.

Frank C.

New center rib & tip rib design.JPG (233.82 KiB) Viewed 3138 times

[Frank Colver]

It's looking good Frank.

When do you plan to start flight testing?

Bob, I don't know how difficult the covering job is going to be so it's had to predict when it will be done.

I've got several simultaneous projects going on so there are gaps in my work on the basic trainer model. Plus I just took delivery on a new motorcycle. Check it out - it looks like an antique but it is brand new, made in Goshen Indiana USA.

I spent today and yesterday on the swing seat bar adapters. I'm making those so that you could walk up to any glider with a 1 1/8" round tubing control bar and slap on the adapter bars. It will no longer require that any fittings will need to be on the gliders bar prior to attaching the adapters. I could put them on your Falcon for example and you could fly it with the swing seat as many times as you want and then remove the adapters and go back to a prone harness.

I can visualize us moving the adapters from glider to glider at Dockweiler so that different pilots could try their own glider with my swing seat harness.

Frank

My Janus, Halcyon 250, 1st ride.jpg (387.35 KiB) Viewed 3137 times

[Frank Colver]

In the Hang Glider Basic Trainer picture background:

1967 Ducati Sebring 350 - Colver Collection

Frank Colver Collection - Update

Frank,
Not to go off topic, but you brought up the subject.
Below is a picture of my Grandfather on his motorcycle sometime in the 1910’s.
Can you identify the motorcycle?
My cousin says she has the receipt for the motorcycle when he bought it.

GrandFatherMotorcycle.JPG (67.47 KiB) Viewed 3134 times

Have you been able to read the name on the tank?

BTW - How did you find the website with my Ducati for sale? Tim Graber has sold all but that one, since I put most of my collection up for sale a couple of years ago. The only antiques I'm keeping are: 1930 BSA, 1936 BSA V-twin, 1947 Matchless, 1954 AJS, 1971 Honda CB100. And, it's a good thing or I wouldn't have room in my shop for the HG projects I'm now working on.

Frank

[Frank Colver]

I just Googled Sebring 350 motorcycle from the picture and your life story popped up.

Frank, you are keeping alive traditions of Playa del Rey, motorcycles and flying.

Los Angeles Motordrome at Playa del Rey.

Pioneers of American Motorcycle Racing by Daniel K. Statnekov

The article tells of Don Johns at Playa del Rey and Don Johns racing Lincoln Beachey and Barney Oldfield in the famous “Fastest Man Alive Race” at Phoenix Fair Grounds in November 1914.

Need for Speed

I finally got the model covered. I used an iron-on covering by Coverite called "21st Century Fabric". It's a prepainted thin woven cloth with a heat activated adhesive on the back. I also coated the battens with contact adhesive to help adhesion to the aluminum battens when the covering is applied with their temp controlled trim iron.

Unfortunately, this is not going to be a good test of this flex wing design because in order to get the covering smooth I had to heat shrink it. Therefore the sail is too tight and it will perform more like a rigid wing. A king post with deflexors would not help much with creating additional reflex at low angles of attack. This is disappointing and in flight tests I may have to bend some more reflex into the rear of some battens to get enough pitch stability. Time will tell. A full scale version would not have enough weight shift roll control with this tight of a sail. However, I should be able to trim turns into or out of the model by sliding the cross spar in relation to the keel. It's held to the keel tightly by two zip ties so it will stay where put.

Check out the photos.
Frank Colver

Covered model end view.JPG (147.76 KiB) Viewed 3120 times

Covered model top.JPG (175.05 KiB) Viewed 3120 times

Covered model underside.JPG (206.59 KiB) Viewed 3120 times

[Frank Colver]

It's looking good Frank!

When and where do you plan to fly it?

I think the soft sand at Dockweiler would be the best test area. Plus that is an historical venue for hang glider development.

I still need to make a weight I can attach to the keel in front of the cross spar and position fore and aft to adjust the CG for trim.

Frank

[Frank Colver]

On Tuesday (8/14) I test glided the 1/5 scale model on the beach at Dockweiler. As most first time tests of a new design it had some good messages for me and some lessons.

I'll start with the lessons:

I covered the model with a coated cloth model airplane covering material that had a heat activated adhesive on the back. Using that, plus some contact cement painted on the battens, I felt that I had pretty good adhesion between the aluminum battens and the covering. So, I decided to skip the next step I had planned. That was to tape the battens to the covering after I could turn the model upside down.

The first test glide, with a dive to the sand, showed that i didn't have enough reflex & CG (adjustable) too far forward. I expecteds this and had planned to bend reflex into the back part of the battens which I did. The covering it tight so deflexors wouldn't work on the model like they would on a full scale glider. The next glide the model climbed into the air instead of diving (see photo) and eventually stalled. But then the covering became unattached to the part of the battens I had bent up for reflex and there was no way I could put any reflex into the wing now. So. back to the shop to tape the battens to the covering, as I had originally intended to do (hence the lesson part). I'll have it back out to Dockweiler again Friday (8/17) to test with the ability to adjust CG and reflex.

Now for the good message the testing gave me:

The model showed good directional/roll stability.

So, I'll carry on with more flight testing and ultimately decide if I want to build a full scale glider from this design.

Frank Colver

First model flight tests 8-14-2018.JPG (71.93 KiB) Viewed 3119 times