On Tue, 28 Aug 2018 19:50:19 -0700, John Foster wrote:

On Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 6:30:22 AM UTC-6, FranCP wrote:
Hi,
Can hard wax be replaced by liquid wax application? Of course silicon
free, as well as other harmfull adds.
Although i've seen guys maintaining their gliders purely on applying
liquid wax regularly, i guess it wont seal & protect the gelcoat as
well as a good anual hard wax buffing.
¿Any advice?
Thanks

A golf ball has many small dimples over its surface, to make it more
"slippery". So how would this principle apply to a glider?

Read up on turbulators. They're not needed on modern airfoils, but were
useful for preventing flow separations on older wing sections (Wortmann)
and at the hinges of control surfaces:

- I've seen turbulators immediately ahead of the aileron hinges on
Discus 1s

- fitting them ahead of the rudder hinge on a Grob G.103 is said to
improve rudder response

- my Std Libelle has full span turbulators under the wing, just in front
of the undercambered part of the lower surface.
Streifneder sells them.

... and of course they work really well to improve airflow at low Reynolds
numbers (40,000 - 100,000).

Just ask any serious free flight model flyer. The first F1A I built with
a D-box wing structure flew like a dog until I fitted thread turbulators
where the rear of the leading edge and the front of the main spar were on
my previous successful open-structure models with entirely tissue covered
wings.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org