The new
Falcon DLG is here now. The Falcon is high aspect ratio winged DLG with many innovations, a good quality structure and excellent value.
The designer Oleg Golovidov shared that the Falcon's design was inspired the fabled XX-Lite from Kristof. Since flying that plane Oleg wanted to design and build a plane with a slim wing, a huge launch, and fast legs, but more 'floaty' and not quite as extreme as XX-Lite. This meant a slightly larger wing chord than XX-Lite, but smaller than the NXT. The fuselage was designed with a four servos in the pod layout as that allowed for a thinner wing without compromising the airfoil or the structure of the wing. This also makes installing the RC a lot easier and quicker.
The flight tests confirmed the primary design goals. The plane launches straight and very high. The flight speed is relatively fast, as it should be for a narrow wing plane. But when cambered up the plane 'grabs' the air extremely well and circles tight without any hesitation. The Falcon DLG is super friendly and allows even pilots with low experience levels to extract maximum performance.
The model is fabricated by HQ Composites to an good standard. The quality of the parts is excellent. The fit and finish are superb. You have to see the plane to really appreciate how nice and shiny the surfaces are.
The model is all spread carbon composite construction. The fuselage is a very nice design with a good sized pod for easy instillation of the RC. Additionally underneath a ballast tunnel is built-in, to allow weights to be added easily when flying in windy conditions. The fuselage also features recesses to partially fair in the aileron horns. This ia a great innovation, featuring the simplicity of external aileron horns together with most of the drag saving of internal horns and pushrods.
The wing is beautifully molded from spread carbon with solid core construction, and a good surface finish. The wing aerodynamics are based on the Gerald Taylor's Synergy airfloil family modified to work at the lower wing chords of this high aspect ratio design.
The fin and tailplane are substantial and again nicely finished.
The very complete accessory bag contains a very strong launch blade, all control horns, torque springs for the tail surfaces, pull cord wire and two servo trays, for four KST X08 or four MKS DS75K or HV75K servos. Also some inastallations have used BMS 101 servos.
Please see the
RCGroups Falcon thread for lots more info and photos.
| Falcon DLG Specifications |
|---|
| Wing span |
1.5 m |
59 in |
| Wing area |
19.0 dm2 |
295 sq in |
| Length |
104 cm |
40.7 in |
| Flying weight from |
218 g |
7.7 oz |
| Wing loading |
11.5 g/dm2 |
3.8 oz/sq ft |
| Aspect ratio |
11.8 |
| Wing airfoil |
GT Synergy2 mod |
| Dihedral angle |
6.0º |
| Centre of Gravity |
63 mm from wing leading edge |
| Controls |
Rudder, elevator, ailerons |
| Falcon DLG Typical Weights |
|---|
| Fuselage |
37.0 g |
1.31 oz |
| Wing (light) |
88.0 g |
3.10 oz |
| Fin |
6.5 g |
0.23 oz |
| Tailplane |
5.5 g |
0.19 oz |
| Accessories |
15.0 g |
0.53 oz |
| Total structure |
152.0 g |
5.36 oz |
| Glue mounts etc |
2.0 g |
0.07 oz |
| Receiver |
5.0 g |
0.18 oz |
| Tail servos |
17.0 g |
0.60 oz |
| Wing servos |
17.0 g |
0.60 oz |
| Battery |
20.0 g |
0.71 oz |
| Noseweight |
5.0 g |
0.18 oz |
| Flying weight approx |
218 g |
7.7 oz |
The above weights can be improved on wirth careful equipment selection. See the photo of the 204g Falcon taken from the RCGroups thread. The builder believes he could have got it down to 200g.
Sorry, this model is not availailable to US & Canada buyers, please buy from Oleg Golovidov.
