I am in full agreement with Larry especially in the reasoning that it has to be considered from the start. N357CJ was built from the start with an eye on weight and location of that mass. I know places that I could have improved and actually saved some weight but over all it turned out pretty dang good. My battery is in the front and no extra weight had to be added to get weight and balance in the foreword part of the range. The Dr. Dean plane that I am working on now is another story. While it has some very nice looking parts they are incredibly heavy, like the horizontal stab and elevator assembly, fully completed when I got it. It weighed just over 21# which is 2 ?times what N357CJ has in the whole tail assembly. Consider that all of that is as far back as it can get. I managed to reduce that part alone by nearly 7# but it is still going to give me trouble latter. Even with some experience under my belt I still am lacking in my planning as I have not fully calculated things out for the Dr. Dean plane. Actually just working with gut feelings right now til I get to where I can mount the engine and get some real feel for where it is headed. I have an over all goal of bring it in at or below 700# empty weight. ?? ?Still the under laying thought with every part that I make and install is where it is in relation to the wing and can I do better. Most times the answer is yes it can be ?lighter or located differently. Joe Horton, 1 in the hanger - 1 in the shop
?As builders make changes , lengthen fuselage, heavier engines, fuel tank changes, balanced elevators, etc., they must take in to account this balancing act. ?The further you get in to the project and realize an error, the harder it is to correct. ?Just remember, it's the C of L we need to work around, that being basically the C.G. spec's given in the plans. Larry Flesner _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to KRnet-leave at list.krnet.org please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options
