Rocket to Glider Mode - What about pop-out Bat Wings?

Similar in design to the skeletal structure of pterodactyls and/or bird's wings, like the ribs of an umbrella, they wold fold flat against the main body during lift and after apogee would 'pop' out to form a wing shape with with it's cloth (mylar?) covered curved surface provide lift, given forward airflow over the wing.

(Nice long sentence, that.)

Some pix:

Ooh, ohh! Google is your friend:

I don't know it seems a better (hmmm, why better?) solution than the swing wing thing.

TBerk

Reply to
T
Loading thread data ...

tried that, failed, haven't tried again (yet)

built it out of dowels and garbage bags, my choice for scratchbuilt kites (had one fly for over 6 hours that way). crafted a tricky sliding engine mount to help deploy the wings, a la estes Condor. rubber band and funky hinge to keep the wings pulled out.

hand throws left something to be desired in results. Would glide 50% of the time. RocSim said it would fly on engine I used. waited for a launch when most everyone was away retrieving rockets (think there was 1 guy with me). put it on the (grossly undersized) pad and proceded to launch.

Something didnt work right, as there was barely enough thrust to get it to clear the rod. in slow motion it lawn darted into the hard grass where the weight of the fins was enough to snap the dowels. kep the peices as a reminder that it was a project that needed work.

note: the design wasn't much off of my kite that i'd build, so I would assume that if it did get enough altitude and deploy properly, it would have stalled, causing it to "flutter" back to the ground. was trying to find a way to get that big 3' wingspan glider to deploy was interesting, but i think a little too complicated for KISS priciple.

This darn hobby has too many offshoots for one person to play with

Onboard video (prototype hung in tree) rollago wing recovery (lawndart) lander challenge rover deployment (not enough testing) ham radio telelmetery, direction finding (TX kit didn't work, too busy to futz with) High power rocketry (still working on L2 bird) post production video of rocket launches (need faster computer) managing rocketry club as president (missing too much fun by having to do too much work) Microhybrids (coming soon, found all the parts now that I got excess rockets to fly it in) MAD deployment (not sure I built it right, couldnt figgure out how to calibrate) onboard camera (need to work on mechanical trigger) Manned rocket flight (everyone complains that modelers can't do it, cant afford it) Hybrids (cant see my way to cost of GSE)

Reply to
tater schuld

I wonder if that one could be modified for simple rudder/elevator R/C, and of course a G type motor.

Reply to
Mike

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.