Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1197609
plywood landing skid was added, raising the aircraft 2.5". 7. The bottom of the tail section of the fuselage was "armored" with aluminum from soft drink cans to protect against the heat of the F-motor exhaust. 8. The radio and battery are now ahead of the wing, improving balance. 9. Wing retention is now with rubber bands vs. nylon screws, much better for beginners and crash survival. 10. Space is provided below the mo- tor tube for an 8" streamer to be stowed, rubber-banded to the aft end of the motor; this allows for motor ejection and recov- ery of a wide variety of single use motors, without the need for digging out the ejec- tion charge, which would invalidate NAR insurance for the flight. I'm describing the build in more detail here to give an idea how to apply the above changes to create a 2-channel rocket glider. It isn't meant to be followed as a step-by- step construction article in that a number of different published glider wing plans in the 45" to 53" span could be used, and dit- to with the tail feathers. So I'll focus mainly on the fuselage. To start, the fuselage is outlined on a strip of 1/8" balsa 3" x 36". One end is ta- pered symmetrically to a pleasingly point- ed nose. Use Figure 4 as your guide. Ex- actly 11.5" behind this tip, the outline for 30 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 SPORT ROCKETRY in RC parlance), which is much easier for beginners to manage. I used the vertical and horizontal stabilizers from a scratch glider design called "EZ II," which is beef- ier but lighter than the Phoenix's tail. The EZ II blueprints are also available on the Internet for free download. 5. The straight, flat-bottom wing was relocated further aft to compensate for lack of sweep, and the nose was extended for- ward by 7", placing the CG right on the main spar. 6. Because the center of the polyhedral wing was now close to the ground, a 3/16" Figure 3. RC rocket glider desolation at the end of the year. I needed to go back to the drawing board. Figure 7. Underside of fuselage, showing the soda can aluminum thermal protection 'armor' installed behind the motor mount. Figure 4. Slab-sided fuselage, simplified from the AeroTech Phoenix design. Figure 5. Fuselage layout with motor tube installed near the center of the fuselage. Figure 6. Bottom view of the motor tube installation. Note that the motor tube has a 5° downward angle of thrust.