About Front Weight

Why You Need Front Weight on "Flying Wing" Gliders, and What to Use

Notes: 

  1. I do not include weights when I send boxes of foam sheets because the sheets can be made into various gliders, requiring diffenent weights. But don't worry. You can easily make your own weights at no cost or almost no cost
  2. If a video would be helpful for figuring out front weight, then skip through this video until 6:32 (or 6:10 if you are unsure about folding angles too).

Why you need front weight.

Mosquito, Jagwing and other "flying-wing" type air-surf gliders--that are all wing and no tail--are the best to fly as walkalong gliders. Since they do not have a tail, they need weight in the front and flaps in the back for stable flight. Here’s how it works:

If you drop a glider with rear flaps but not enough front weight, it stalls.

If there is too much weight in front and/or not enough bend in the rear, then the glider dives.

When the rear flaps (elevons) and the front weight are balanced the glider does not stall or dive.

As per Newton’s 3rd law of motion (action and reaction), when air is forced up by the back flaps, the reaction is that the back of the glider is forced down, which is the opposite of a dive. When you get it adjusted correctly, the front weight and back flaps balance out each other perfectly. The weight prevents stalling and the flaps prevent diving. The result is efficient, stable, elegant gliding!

What to use for front weight: aluminum foil, copper wire

Aluminum foil

We think of aluminum as a lightweight metal--and it is compared to other metals--but it is still over twice as dense as water.

A strip of aluminum foil about 13 mm (1/2") wide, then crushed and rolled into a sort of wire, is an excellent front weight.

Aluminam foil is more widely available but it can be a lot of work if you are making lots of gliders.

Copper Wire

copper wire works better if you are making a lot and you want fast production.

The easiest way to adjust front weight.

Getting “flying wing” gliders adjusted will become intuitive and easy, but it can be confusing at first. I suggest starting by:

  1. Bend the back flaps (elevons) to about 45 degrees up, then…
  2. Add weight to the front until the glider does not stall in test flights. But it the glider dives, you might have too much weight. Then, when you are close...
  3. If the weight is long and thin, you can micro-adjust by bending it more forward if it stalls, or more back if it is diving. This shifts the "center of gravity" or balancing point of the glider. Bending forward is just like adding more weight. Bending backward is just like cutting off weight.

Contact me if you still have trouble with getting gliders adjusted.