Half A GoGo (oz13120)

About this Plan

Half A GoGo. Free flight power model.

Quote: "When I set out to design a 1/2 A free flight, I was determined that it would be entirely to my liking, in addition to flying well. While most of them are good, the 1/2 A kits on the market today leave me unsatisfied. After all, there's no point in building and flying models which you don't like, even if their performance is good! 1/2A a GO-GO represents my ideas of proportion, style and construction as well as being an excellent performer.

The long tail moment arm makes for a rakish design and makes it easy to control the powered portion of the flight. It also allows adjustment for a nose-high glide. Since high aspect ratio wings tend to vibrate at high speeds, I stuck to an average width chord. A modified version of the good old Clark Y airfoil is used, flat-bottomed for ease of covering. With GO-GO's light weight the glide is not hurt by the flat section.

Everything is squared off for simplicity and construction speed with slight taper on the wing tips for esthetics. The rudder location is a compromise between a forward position which makes for touchier adjustments and the over-hanging type which is awkward when making DT arrangements. The 'halfway back' position has the practical virtue of keeping the DT fuse well away from the stabilizer.

The model does not take long to build. Three weeks of evenings and some weekend time sandwiched between normal chores was sufficient for me. Test flights were a series of minor disasters. GO-GO was designed with minimum decalage (angular difference between wing and stabilizer) and, at first, was 'out the window' (insufficient decalage) and wanted to dive. Final adjustments included approximately 5/32 in under the trailing edge of the stabilizer. This adjustment is included on the plans and must be there in order for the model to fly. Test flights of your own GO-GO may indicate more or less incidence, but DON'T change it before testing. Crack-ups are hard to repair!

As a matter of interest, raising the leading edge of the wing as little as 1/64 produced a stall in the glide. Keep the wing incidence as shown.

Once adjusted, the model has a steep spiral climb to the right with a perfect transition to the right glide - no dip or altitude loss. It is consistent in wind or calm and handles power with ease - it simply flies up faster. GO-GO does not hang on the prop and does not require downthrust although a little left thrust may be needed to keep the spiral pointed up.

The model placed second in 1/2A at its first contest, the Greater New York Interclub Association meet in May, 1965. It had two maxes and one near max plus one near disaster. One more lesson learned - make certain the tail is on absolutely straight before flying.

At the Yankee Championships, run by the New England Wakefield Group at South Weymouth NAS in July, 1965, GO-GO came in first in 1/2 A, missing three maxes by a few seconds.

The 1965 National Championships at Willow Grove were blessed with fantastically good weather and 1/2A day was no exception. There was a large entry and flights began going up almost as soon as timers were available at 8 AM. GO-GO went up for flight #1 at about 9 o'clock and almost lost the battle right there. A short motor run and dead air brought the model down to within 100 feet of the ground at one point. However, light weight and floating glide paid off and it rode weak risers for a minute or so, then picked a good one and was well up at the five-minute mark.

The second flight was a good max and landed just inside the fence at the far side of the field. Although there was not much wind on the ground, the drift a few hundred feet up was fast and the third flight, in a really BIG thermal, went over the fence at considerable altitude and landed behind trees in an area..."

Half A GoGo, MAN, April 1966.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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