I've now got the final airfoil sections for the horizontal tail, and am getting ready to plot the final wing sections.
My original intent for the tail was to use something like the old catalog Wortman FX-71-L-150/25, except thinned to about 13.5%. However, a last minute change of heart prompted me to survey the sections used on modern racers. As a result, I'm changing to a different profile that Steve Smith tweaked up for me. This new section bears a resemblance to some other modern tail airfoils, and also has the same sort of blunted nose as the FX-71 series. However, this new section has substantial camber to it in both the fixed and hinged portions. Also, Steve worked it over a bunch looking for a bit more laminar run than some similar sections we looked at. At 11.3% thick, it's a bunch thinner than what I originally intended to use, but the weight penalty for that shallower structure is relatively small, and we think that the performance gain is worth it.
For the vertical fin, we may just pull something out of the old NACA catalog and use something like the 64a012. But we'll worry about that when the fuselage plug is much farther along.
page updated 30 January 2003 all text and graphics copyright (c) 2003 HP Aircraft, LLC