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Conceptual Design of an "Inexpensive" Single-Seat Touring Motorglider

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Topaz

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NOTE: This thread was started in September 2014. I'm writing this note from the far future, in 2022, using my magical moderator editing super-powers. I'm here to let you know that this project was stopped, and restarted from scratch, about four pages into this thread. The original material below is still relevant but, if you want to "start at the beginning" (again), you should read the preamble below (down to "My Design Process"), maybe scan through the first few posts to see if this is really something interesting to you, and then click here and jump forward to the start of that new work. I'm leaving the older material below both for its own sake and because I'll be referencing it in the new work by link from time to time.

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A couple of days ago, over in the Cheap Air Racing Class thread, I basically volunteered nerobro to share his design process "out in the open" on the boards. He accepted the challenge and he's moving forward with his design in the Designing the Cheap Air Racer thread. Definitely take a moment and check that out.

In fairness, I've decided to put my time and money where my mouth is, and do one myself. Matt G. put it best:

It would be a good way for me to learn more about things I don't know as much about, and for others to learn about stuff I do know a thing or two about.

I'm going to start and maintain two threads. This one, in the "Build Log" section, will be the main thread showing the work on the project. Build Log threads are locked to everyone but the OP, so I'll be the only one posting here. The other thread, in the Aircraft Design sub-forum, will exist so that I can talk with you folks about the project, ask for your advice, and answer your questions. I hope you'll learn some things, and I hope you'll teach me some things.

One thing I can guarantee is that this won't be quick. I own and operate a buisness, and have plenty of "life happening" right now on top of that. I'll work and post as I can. I'm actually several weeks into this design study already, before I decided to start this thread, so I'll be able to post a lot in the beginning fairly quickly. After that, I'll try to post at the same rate I can work on it - a "lunchbreak" worth of work a day, on those days when work allows me to get away from my desk. I don't know if this is going to work - nerobro and I both started these threads today - but I think it's worth a try.

My Design Process
The process I use is very close to the one shown in Dan Raymer's Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach, with some stuff from John Roncz's "Designing Your Homebuilt" series in Sport Aviation thrown in here and there, and some other additions from other sources. If you want to follow along with the same resources I'm using, I have the third edition of Raymer's book (other editions should be the same, for the portions I'm using, but equations might be on different pages, etc.), and you can download a PDF of Roncz's article series from here. I'll post other references as they come up. For a preview of what to expect in terms of process and end-result, check out Raymer's first example study in the title above, which is pages 683-725 in my Third Edition.

I don't presume to say that this is the "right" way to design an airplane, or that I have some special knowledge or experience that means it ought to be done this way. It's one way to design an airplane. It works for me, to the extent that it gets me from a starting point to where I want to go. If there's any legitimacy to it, that's because it's mostly Dan Raymer's way of designing an airplane, and he's a recognized authority on the subject. None of my design studies have ever been built or flown, so take this whole thing for what it's worth - a description of a partially self-taught design process by an inexperienced amateur. Caveat Emptor!

Thanks for your interest, and let's get started...
 
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