It has been a long time but there is this trick that I recall with using partial motor to deal with practicing with a lower ceiling than the ceiling at the real competition.JasperKota wrote:I've been getting around 1:40 pretty consistently, though its max height is around 15 feet so there's still room to climb. Planning on building/buying a torque meter, as well as getting more rubber so I don't have to worry about conserving
The idea is to build a balsa stick with hooks at both ends and attach it to the tail hook of the plane on one end while the wound motor on the other. The stick should be light and about the same weight as the rubber per unit length. So for example, if your practice height is 15 feet and the competition venue height is 30 feet, you can build a stick of about half the length of the span of the normal motor length. You would shorten your normal motor by half and wind it to the max and trim your plane for your 15 feet height for best time. When finally, you are at the competition venue, you no longer use the stick, and you double the length of the motor back to normal and wind it twice as many as your practice winding. This way you can trim your plane properly for the 15 feet height while at the same time, your trim should be very close to your best for 30 feet height ceiling with regular length motor.