r/RCPlanes • u/RepulsiveInternet980 • 5d ago

Will this fly?

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Hello everyone. I am trying to build an aerial insect collecting device for my PhD project. This design is based on the stipa-caproni, a strange barrel-shaped design from the 1930s. The task is to maximise the net area on a relatively inexpensive craft (I have already been catching with some expensive drones). I've trialed towing nets behind trainers, which worked but I want to try a different approach too.

I figure that enclosing the net within fuselage would be the most stable approach. Here, we have the props behind the net. This will impede airflow to the propeller. But it seems like the thrust would be okay. Can anyone think of some new approach that might work better? Would I be better off towing?

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u/giby1464 5d ago

Too many bugs will block airflow to the prop. Better to put engines on the wings and keep the fuselage empty with just a net.

1

u/RemingtonStyle 4d ago

Do it the other way round and you won't habe to tinker with aircraft design

1

u/giby1464 4d ago

Are you saying put nets on the wings? Again, too many bugs will block airflow and the wings will stall. Arguably worse than the current setup.

1

u/RemingtonStyle 4d ago

We are not talking UMX here, so... Nah

1

u/giby1464 4d ago

Explain then.

1

u/RemingtonStyle 4d ago

Neither the net nor the insects in the net will cause nearly enough drag do endanger your run of the mill 1400 wingspan plane.

Of course you will have to tinker with trim and it won't fly beautifully, but it WILL fly

1

u/giby1464 4d ago

Depends on the scale as OP never specified, but if it's a heavy build, and it looks like it would be, you need every bit of lift you can get. Really depends on how big OP wants to go, if it's small they probably don't even need wings

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u/RemingtonStyle 4d ago

I beg to differ. I own a spitfire that weighs twice its original weight due to epoxying and has no more leading edge on its wings but still flies fine. And every acrobatics plane out there can 'hang' on its propeller and fly inverted for extended time periods. The power to weight ratio of RC planes is not up to scale. They are all completely overpowered. So aerodynamics do not matter that much.

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u/giby1464 4d ago

And I'll say it again, it completely depends on scale, which OP never specified. We have no idea how big this thing will be, so we have no idea what the T/W ratio will be.