Acro or glider, which is best

[Forbes]

My radio Tx is a JR XG8. The glider I am trying to learn to fly is a Windrider Bee2.

At present the elevons/ailerons are set up using the glider V-tail software built into the Tx. Playing around with the radio I found that there is a delta set-up in the Acro section. This seems to match the physical location and layout of the elevons/ailerons more closely than a V-tail as far as configuration and operation goes. The instruction manual doesn't say anything about the differences (if any).

So my questions are:
Is a wing a glider or an airplane?
Which set-up should I use, glider V-tail or acro/airplane delta?
Is aileron differential needed on a wing?

After the winter is over I really want to fine-tune the Bee and learn how to control it properly.
Thanks in advance for any opinions or advice.

Ian
Japan

[Ghostfit]

My radio Tx is a JR XG8. The glider I am trying to learn to fly is a Windrider Bee2.

At present the elevons/ailerons are set up using the glider V-tail software built into the Tx. Playing around with the radio I found that there is a delta set-up in the Acro section. This seems to match the physical location and layout of the elevons/ailerons more closely than a V-tail as far as configuration and operation goes. The instruction manual doesn't say anything about the differences (if any).

So my questions are:
Is a wing a glider or an airplane?
Which set-up should I use, glider V-tail or acro/airplane delta?
Is aileron differential needed on a wing?

After the winter is over I really want to fine-tune the Bee and learn how to control it properly.
Thanks in advance for any opinions or advice.

Ian
Japan

Hi Ian,

Is a wing a glider or an airplane?
Technically, anything without any form of thrust is a glider, so that makes your Bee2 a wing glider.

Which set-up should I use, glider V-tail or acro/airplane delta?
On my JR11X zero, all my flying wings are setup with Airplane mode to make things easier (Ailevons mix)

Is aileron differential needed on a wing?
Setup differential on your model if it doesn't roll axially, generally you need more throws on aileron (lateral movement) and lesser throws on your elevator (pitch movement) for flying wings.
Having said that, flying wings also requires "less" control surfaces movements compared to their normal wing and tail counterparts.

Hope that helps.
Tony

[Twyl]

Ian, I'm sure with the proper mixing you could set it up anyway you like, but for what it's worth I also fly on a JR Tx and set my flying wings up using the Delta setup in Acro.

Regarding differential, flying wings are much more forgiving on this and generally the same up throw as down throw on the aileron control is fine and should give you an axial roll. If you find that your rolls aren't axial you may need to have your ailerons give less down throw (i.e. aileron movement going down, not flying or rolling direction) as up throw (NOTE: this is opposite the differential you would make on traditional non-flying wing planes/gliders).

While you may be in tinkering mode over the winter break since you can't go flying as much if any at all, I still wouldn't worry too much about the differential until you can confirm from actual inflight analysis that you are having non-axial roll issues.

-Jonathan

[Forbes]

Good advice which I will try and put into practice. I don't expect to be trying axial rolls for quite a long time yet. Perhaps inadvertently, but that's another thing altogether!

The Acro mode elevon programming seems to be a bit cleaner than the Glider mode V-tail programming so I'll use it. After playing around with it I haven't found any problems with the setup or big differences. I only have to live with a picture of a powered plane on the display. Can't seem to get rid of that.

On a side note, I purchased a JR DMSS receiver (from a Japanese hobby shop) recently and was surprised to find the instructions and specs written in both English and Japanese. It seems that JR has decisively moved into international mode with their products. They even have an English website and I can download English versions of their product manuals. The manuals leave a bit to be desired in explaining features and how to use but at least I can read them.

Thank you Ghostfit and Twyl for your help. Your explanations are very easy to understand.

Ian
Japan