As a result, you probably need a bit more surface area on the wings than you'd expect. This makes the aircraft a little heavier than it should be for its size. One of the problems with the weight is that the cockpit pods are heavier, having an entire extra ton from the reaction wheels in them. One of the things that you really need in the Mk1-sized planes is more wing than you think. I'm going to build a plane here with what I saw and see if I can't get you something better.ĮDIT: Okay, so I built a plane with the parts you look like you should have. Kind of wish I could work with you real time on this. If you build your plane even remotely right, you can turn your reaction wheels off completely. And speaking of control surfaces.Ĥ: Where are your ailerons? Did you not read the link I posted? It has helpful animated pictures and everything. This should move your center of lift back a little bit, stabilizing the aircraft, while also making the control surfaces more effective at controlling the plane. One thing you can do to fix this is take the tail stablizers/elevators and pull them further out back on the tail boom.
It eases the behavior of the plane so that it becomes easier to handle. HOWEVER, that behavior is desirable to have to a certain extent. If you recall last page, my huge write-up, the farther the center of mass is out in front of the lift, the more force the control surfaces need to act against the nose's natural desire to fall. The Center of Lift is right on your center of mass. This doesn't mean you'll be stuck nosing down if your control surfaces are large enough to override the torque.ģ: Your aircraft is unstable. What's going to happen, is that if you have a lot of power compared to mass (which you do by nature of oversized engines), you're going to experience a hard nose-down force in your torque moments. Keep in mind that you can BUILD an engine nacelle and you don't have to bolt it directly to the back of the stack.Ģ: Your engines are high over your CoM. As the other guy said, you need to utilize smaller ones. I'm looking at your plane in the previous pictures, RDPirate.ġ: Your engines are oversized for your aircraft.