Rhönadler 35

Part II: Into the Tender Hands Of Gravity

While this article stands well on its own, some readers may want to read Part I: Design and Construction to catch up on the story so far. Also, as with the previous story you can click any image for a full resolution version. — Ed.

So, time rolled on, as it does, and thoughts turned to the task of putting theory into the tender hands of gravity.

Experience with the larger version of the Rhönadler gave a good indication of what to expect once the Day of the Maiden arrived so onwards and, hopefully, upwards.

To recap: in a departure from my normal arrangement, this model features a very thick scale wing section at the root, transitioning to my normal HQ section at the tip at a mere 12% thickness.

Once hooked up behind Smallpiece’s tug and towed to altitude, it became obvious that the new model performed much like the old one, but on steroids. This translates to a very stately performance (translation: scale-like) with a long, floaty approach when it’s time to land.

With the ailerons mixed to come up with the spoilers, glide path control is reassuringly robust, and despite the thick wing root, penetration into a breeze is not problematic.

Don’t just take my word for the foregoing though — you can see for yourself in my Riding with Ronnie video, linked immediately below.

©2022 Chris Williams

Resources

• Riding with Ronnie — YouTube video where both video and soundtrack music are by the author and features “the reduced-scale Rhönadler 35 in action at White Sheet Hill…”

Also by the Author

• The Williams Anthology The collected works of the author as presented on the pages of the New RC Soaring Digest.

All images by the author. Read the next article in this issue, return to the previous article in this issue or go to the table of contents. A PDF version of this article, or the entire issue, is available upon request.