design rules?

[luckily_charmed]

This is my first year doing Wright Stuff. I've done most of the build events, but I preferred bridges over planes. I don't really get the rules on design. Maybe I just don't know the parts of the plane well, but what's a wing chord? I understand that it's from leading edge to trailing edge, but I don't know what either of those are. Are they the tips of the wing and the tips of the stabilizer?

Also, the color panels. Does that mean we can just paint/spray paint/use a dyed material for the wing cover?

[bernard]

Click here to view a helpful diagram taken from the North Carolina Science Olympiad website that makes some of the terminology clear. The Wright Stuff page of the same website has documents that I think will be helpful.

For the colored panel, you can use anything as long as it is not prohibited by the Wright Stuff rules. See General Rule #1. As always, this is not the place for official answers/clarifications. For official answers/clarifications, visit the FAQs on the official Science Olympiad website.

[jander14indoor]

Must say I don't like the diagram on the NC site, but once you realize the wing and tail are drawn as if the wing and horz stab are 90 degrees to each other as opposed to parallel it's right.
Aeronautical terms. Google them individually or just aeronautical terms, lots of expert and clear diagrams, though I was surprised to not find a well drawn version of what the NC diagram was supposed to be showing.
Chord = distance front to back of the wing along the direction of flight. If wing is tapering or oval, chord is the distance at a particular point, root chord is chord next to the fuselage (motor stick), tip chord is the extreme end of the wing away from the fuselage, mean aerodynamic chord is average chord length over the whole wing.
Leading edge, just the very front edge or tip of the wing that is hit by the air first as the plane flies.
Trailing edge, just the very back edge of the wing that is the last thing the air moves over.
Wing tips or stab tips are the extreme edges of the wing/stab from side to side.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[28builder]

ok my son's last plane was trimmed & flown several times and was doing well. but it seems that it was repaired a few to many times and we were not getting as good if results as before... question .. after he built his latest wing he asked a questiob about the bonus ..colored wing panel. it doesnt mention non transparent as un the required non horizontal element in earlier paragraph... so would the orangish lightweight plastic that newspapers are delivered in work to meet the bonus? it is orange but very transparent. just wondering since technically my boy says it is orangish.
also-separatley rules say it has to cover at least 2 ribs... well two different planes by two different students have different distances between ribs. so one student has a colored wing panel that is about 7 cm and the other has about 12 cm ? the rules just say 2 ribs and the full length of the chord. are the judges looking for a spec min lenght of rib locatiob to achieve the 10% bonus or are the simply looking for the fact that for that particular plane it covers 2 ribs?

[28builder]

follow up . if the colored wing panel bonus says it needs to cover at least 2 ribs... if my son covered one rib section at each end of the wing would that count? he painted one end with two ribs and it was way heavy on that side and was even hard for him to rebalance. he wondered if he could have a colored wing panel at each end covering one rib each end?

[A Person]

follow up . if the colored wing panel bonus says it needs to cover at least 2 ribs... if my son covered one rib section at each end of the wing would that count? he painted one end with two ribs and it was way heavy on that side and was even hard for him to rebalance. he wondered if he could have a colored wing panel at each end covering one rib each end?

In my understanding, yes. The rules say that you cover two ribs, and because it doesn't say anything against splitting them, I think you can do so. I don't think it really is against the spirit of the competition, either.

[bjt4888]

28builder,
Rule 5a. reads, "...colored panel on the wing that is at least the length of the wing chord and at least between 2 wing ribs." Also, see the official Science Olympiad website FAQ responses below to questions related to this rule and rule 3g. I wrote these two question to the SO FAQ in order to get clarification on the concept of "non-transparent", etc. For the 5a. bonus the area bounded by the leading and trailing edge of the wing and two of the wing ribs (including, in my unofficial interpretation, covering the wing ribs and the leading and trailing edges themselves) must be covered in a colored material. As you can see in the FAQ responses below, coloring by dying, painting, coloring with a marker, etc. are allowed methods of achieving a "colored panel".

I have further questions submitted to the SO FAQ to get additional clarification so that event supervisors will hopefully not feel that difficult judgement calls are required regarding the quality of spray painting or marker application.

Pactra model car spray paint works well for coloring clear plastic and, if applied in a few light "dusting" coats, does not add significant weight.

Brian T.
AMA since 1972 (off and on)

Below copied from the official Science Olympiad FAQ webpage. However, of course, all official review of the FAQ should be done directly from the SO website.

(section: 3 / paragraph: g / line: 1)

2014-10-26 20:05 Please clarify "non-transparent" as even Esaki tissue is transparent enough to read through: Is Dying, spray painting, or coloring with a marker over clear plastic covering material allowed?
Yes, for the Science Olympiad National Competition, the techniques and materials as described but not limited to: dying, spray painting, coloring with a marker over clear plastic, are each acceptable and will be allowed as a covering so that aircraft may be identified at its maximum altitude.

(section: 5 / paragraph: a / line: 1)

2014-10-26 19:48 In the case of a tip-dihedral model, would a colored wing tip (which is non-horizontal) meet the requirements of both rule 5.a and 3.g.?
Yes.

[retired1]

A technicality- the rule says that the colored wing panel must be at least between two ribs, it does not say that it must cover either or both ribs. I would hope that the ES would not be so picky.
It could be argued that the LE and the TE are not between the 2 wing ribs, so, does it really require the leading edge and the trailing edge to be covered. I do not think so.
It would be safest if they were colored. Note, that a felt marker can be used and the rule does not say that sloppy use of it is not authorized.
The intent is to make it visible, not make lawyers out of all of us.