Let's Talk Giant Scale

Adding side-force generators for improved knife-edge flight

- John Glezellis

Today, almost-ready-to-fly (ARF) airplanes dominate most local flying fields, and so there’s little room for personal expression. RC modelers, however, can always customize their models to make them unique. This can include various cosmetic changes, from a simple color-scheme change to the addition of panel lines, rivets, and weathering effects to a scale model to improve realism. Some builders may also decide to make design modifications to alter their plane’s flight characteristics. The options are endless.

I recently completed a Hangar 9 Ultra Stick 30cc ARF. Although it is a great giant-scale sport model in its stock configuration, I wanted to add a counterbalanced rudder and side force generators (SFGs) to the wings. The addition of the counterbalance was mainly cosmetic, even though it does decrease the load experienced by the servo. For the wing mods, I eliminated the wingtips to allow a mounting surface for two extremely large SFGs. The result was astonishing, and the modified Ultra Stick is now capable of extremely slow knife-edge flight at high angles relative to the horizon. It can also perform extremely tight knife-edge loops with minimal pitch coupling.

TIME FOR CHANGE