How to reduce: roll during boost

Low laughter

I align my fins visualy, so they are aligned to within a few wavelenths of light. ;)

Alan

Since I "got back in", I've done a lot of experimenting, but little actual testing. I also enjoy the actual construction and overall attention to detail more than I did years ago. I was made aware of that during a class I taught in which we built some B egg lofters. Over stability was a chronic issue and some of the models exhibited severe weathercocking (it ALWAYS seems to be blowing around Denver). A couple teams used induced spin to try and counteract the weathercock. It didn't work coming off the rods in a breeze, for obvious reasons, but they had to learn these things. But, the NON-payload test flights did, in general, achieve higher average altitudes and a more vertical flight path than the non-spin models. Because we used jigs in construction (due to my concern with detail), the lugs (and standoffs) were the largest asymmetries on the models and must have certainly contributed to the arcing flight paths of the non-spin models. No one (me included) thought to compensate for the lugs by adding another set; they turned from spin to CG/CP relationships to lower stability, which, in fact, worked to their satisfaction. The lugs were never really considered in the context of flight profiles, though their large effect on overall drag was discussed.

Now I'm gonna have to see if the drag increase of an additional lug can be offset by a more vertical flight path on an over-stable model.

If I could ever quit experimenting, I might actually get a real project completed. :)