Going vertical

Already starting to practice for the 2012 IAC contests. Had a professional photographer at our Gulf Coast Aerobatic Club get together yesterday at Brewton, AL. This is the picture I try to show the judges for the whoa factor.
Reminds me of a Beach Boys song: Fun, Fun, Fun...........

Love it!

That's a cool shot!!!


Have fun!

It's 8F here in central Ohio....

Vertical?

Very Cool belly paint. What about the exhaust plate? Looks like it should be dark also. Very nice photo also. Without a reference point in the picture though, going vertical is an assumption. Don't think of this as a flame. Think we want more cool pics please.

Really cool shot Willy! I also like the belly paint...looks like an A-4. Good deceptive camo for dogfighting!

Best of luck in the contests...it'll be fun to read about RVs in IAC contests!

Cheers,
Bob

plate behind exhaust & perspective

twisted-wrench said:

Very Cool belly paint. What about the exhaust plate? Looks like it should be dark also. Very nice photo also. Without a reference point in the picture though, going vertical is an assumption. Don't think of this as a flame. Think we want more cool pics please.

Click to expand...

The white triangle behind the exhaust pipes is on purpose so I can see what's coming out of the cowling. Things I see are red brake fluid and a little oil. If you push negative Gs, the brake fluid reservoir will expel some liquid even when I use a shepard's loop shaped tubing going below the reservoir to minimize the leak.

The picture was taken about 1 PM local and the sun is located high and slightly to the left of the photographer. You can see the sun reflection in front of the air intake on the gloss black, the shadows of the exhaust and my right wing fence. I'm not sure when the photograph took the picture on the up pitch, but it looks over 70 degrees. The camera lens was VERY BIG AND LONG.
Glad you enjoyed it,
Bill McLean
RV-4 Slider
Daleville, AL

Hey Bill,

I just looked closer, and it looks like you have flat wingtips with fences towards the aft half of the tip chord. True?

If so, what kind of performance changes have you noted (top speed, aileron loading and controllability, and airspeed bleeding in vertical/hi g maneuvering).

Thanks, looks interesting, and would love to see other pics if you have them!

Cheers,
Bob

Bill,
I also see trailing material at the wing tips?? Is this for aerobatic horizon ref?

WillyEyeBall said:

Already starting to practice for the 2012 IAC contests. Had a professional photographer at our Gulf Coast Aerobatic Club get together yesterday at Brewton, AL.

This is the picture I try to show the judges for the whoa factor.
Reminds me of a Beach Boys song: Fun, Fun, Fun...........

Click to expand...

I am 60 next month Willie, I hope to be doing what your doing now when I am 70. Well done mate. Could you post more pictures of your 4?

Cheers

Tony

wing tips & sighting device

rvmills said:

Hey Bill,

I just looked closer, and it looks like you have flat wingtips with fences towards the aft half of the tip chord. True?

If so, what kind of performance changes have you noted (top speed, aileron loading and controllability, and airspeed bleeding in vertical/hi g maneuvering).

Thanks, looks interesting, and would love to see other pics if you have them!

Cheers,
Bob

Click to expand...

We always like to show off our toys, so thanks for the more picture request. The idea for the flat wing tips came from an1991 article, September issue, in Sports Aerobatics (Ralph Riddell) about a RV-4 modified for serious acro, and the flat wing tips increased the roll rate. I added the fences for the same reason to achieve a little more aileron effect. I'm not a good test pilot, so my estimate is the flat wing tips increased the top speed about 3 knots, increased my stall speed 4 to 5 knots. However the fences lowered the stall speed about 3 knots and also slowed the rapid spin rotation after 1/2 turn. It also seems to land better without much float. The inverted flight is slightly better with a little less nose up for level flight. For an acro sighting device, I have auto window tint strips on my canopy. The advantages of the tint strips are it's cheap, and I can see them with slight peripheral vision, and I can move them if they are not right.



Bill McLean
RV-4 Slider
Alabama

Hey Bill congratulations....como join us for some fun sometime here in the carolinas. what seuqence are you practicing?

Sweet pictures Bill! I think you should design a Sportsman Free that has you pulling up on the Y right in front of the judges faces just like that, with a half vertical roll to a hammer. Quarter roll down back on the X. That would be beautiful...and I think you need more of a challenge anyway!

You made the front page!

I remember other planes using fences as well. Has anybody ever put spades on the ailerons on an RV? Are the stick forces light enough not to require them?

Brake fluid leak

Try a 1/8 inch npt grease zerk on your brake fluid reservoir instead of the plastic plug. I have one on my pitts and it allows air to get into the resevoir as the brakes wear but doesn't allow fluid to flow out.

Definitely an A-4 Skyhawk silhouette. Very impressive.

Sportsman sequence

Mitch, I believe the IAC proposed "A" sequence was selected, and I'm working on a free style that takes advantage of the RV's speed and vertical zoom with quarter vertical rolls up and down for hammer and humpty, and still stay in the box. It's one sport that's just fun to participate regardless of how well you score. One of these days I'll make it up your way.
Bill
RV-4 slider

Wing Tip Molds

Bill are you the man from Alabama that was interested in my molds for my semi-flat tips (3/4" span at top and 0" span at the bottom)? They are still in the attic if you want them - they're not going anywhere. I do not know if the RV-6 and the RV-4 have precisely the same airfoil.

Did you fly the current flat tips without the tip plates at the aft end? I have to admit I don't like the looks of them, they seem too big. Did you see the small ones ion the Galloping Ghost Mustang? That size proportion looked better. Mine flew fine without any plates without aerobatics demands (form follows function as they say so you gotts do what you gotta do for your flying demands).

I have a the flat metal tips extended beyond the aileron joint a few inches with a inboard stiffener strip. That was the reason for the semi-flat tip design; there I was able to use the triangular section with a closure web to extend the stiff tip all the way back to the trailing edge of the ailerons. As I recall the semi-flat fiberglass tips were a small amount slower than the flat metal tips without plates. I have the data but it would take some digging to get the actual numbers (may be in this forum somewhere) and the difference may be in the error margin of the test method.



In making my flat metal tips I destroyed the semi-flat tips when I cut off the 3/4" mounting flange portion to use the already fitted and installed platenuts.




Bob Axsom

flat wing tips

Bob, I am the one that inquired about your flat wing tips, and you suggested the easiest way would be to make them out of metal since we didn't know if they would fit. Well, the person that purchased the 500th RV-12 kit just happens to be a co-worker and wanted to practice sheet metal skills. It only cost me a couple of beers, and he did a good job. The flat metal tips didn't cover the ailerons before I added the fences,and the flight characteristics were as you noted, but with a faster roll rate (20 degrees per second increase) and slight increase in stall speed. The nice thing about the wing tips is I can swap them out with the standard ones, which have the landing and taxi lights.
Bill McLean
RV-4 Slider
Alabama

I do the same thing


I have four available configurations. The one in the photo above has the 9" span adding tip tanks and the 12" stock tips outboard of the ailerons. The nav,hazard (strobe) and landing lights are inside the lens at the front of the stock tip.


This lower photo shows the current short race configuration with the tip tanks and steps removed and 3" streamlined tips on.

Bob Axsom