Scale Soaring UK

Thanks Cliff, this where forums are such a valuable resource. In the end I answered my own question, only because of the assistance of those who posted. I was pretty confident when Jilles, Peter, Paul and Vince hadn't 100% nailed it, that it needed to be discovered. For better or worse I have time to burn at the moment. Peter, Paul, Vince, we've never met, however your posts on this forum show enough about your very broad sailplane knowledge. Max, I don't think we have met either, I was at Bordertown 2000 and the first Jerilderie JR Aerotow, if you were there?

So if they weren't sure with their resources, I changed tack on how I was searching. There certainly has been a lot of time spent in recent years digitising old magazines and books. That some of these old books are also word searchable is incredible. Translation services are much improved as well.

So, to model the Benz Meiningen or not?
Hhhmm, wood model, high aspect ratio, short coupled, very tall fin and tail mounted on a tiny fuselage cross section, no dihedral at all, likely sagged well into anhedral on the ground and a relatively large wing on a small pylon mount. Plus, it looks like the full size was not a successful soarer and may have only flown once. Might be a bit of a pig to fly ........................................

When did that stop anyone

Until I'm on my feet again, I have time to do a plan of it. I have done a couple of basic ones in my lifetime. I'm thinking 1 to 4.5 or 1/4.

Started on its way to being a 1/4 scale model, have a couple of others to finish first though.
Using Devcad and Dev wing, more fine tuning to do yet.

Brian, would you make the plan available to members please?
What wing section are you planning on using?

Hi Brian

Yes. I was at Bordertown last year and I'm planning to go again next month.

That's where Mike O'Reilly took the photo which became my Avatar.

Hope to see you there.

Cliff Evans wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 18:07 Brian, would you make the plan available to members please?
What wing section are you planning on using?

Of course, any model of it I make would only exist due to this forum.
Section still to be determined, the GO 386/390/420 sections of the original are thick and quite undercambered.
Going with a HQ 3.0-12 root and 2.5-12 tip at the moment, but not set in stone.

I would stick with the HQ section.

Found a little bit more,
In the 1930 Rhoen Glider Championships it seems to have flown twice with Edgar (I assume) Dittmar flying. 25mins and 1min 05secs. In 1932 H.Benz entered a smaller glider called the LWS Blla 1 "Hangkrebs" "Slope Crab" I can't find anymore about that glider so it may not have flown at the event. Benz also pops up regarding canopy design and streamlining for sailplanes that year, then nothing.

Google translation: H.Benz, Meiningen. The cantilevered wing is connected to the fuselage neck by means of a number of turnbuckles. A carrier plate is installed as a wing support between the main frames of the fuselage. also knows part of the middle runner. The suspension shows struts and elastic bands. Note the rear part of the keel plate in the fuselage. The height of the high-decker is 1.80 m. The depth of the Göttingen 386 wing cut used is 1.30 The angle of incidence at the wing root is + 4.5 °. Increases to -1.0 at the wing end in such a ratio that, taking into account the wing contour shape, there is a purely elliptical lift distribution achieved without generating too much forehead resistance.
Benz canopy design (Unidentified sailplane)

Very interesting thread, Brian.

Brian, don't even think about those old Goettingen sections. You will end up with a one speed/one wind speed model that will have a very poor performance.

Stick with the Quabecks but don't reduce the camber at the tip - just the thickness a little. The HQ sections perform very well without washout. If you reduce the camber of the tip section you will almost certainly need some washout to compensate.

Thanks Robbie, wilco.

I did some more snooping about the net, but didn't find anything I hadn't seen before.
Wondering about colours, there are no descriptions or good images of the finished sailplane I can find.
I did clean up the town square image and ran it through a number of online black and white image to colour converters.
I have Photoshop and had a muck around there as well, more for cleaning up the image.
This the best result.

I'm only guessing the fin was red on skin and white fabric, with black numbers, possibly red and white for the horizontal stabiliser.
The fuselage a natural ply finish, white fabric and maybe red or natural ailerons.
Any counter views? I will defer to your expertise.

Unless I find more documentation, I might move modelling type posts to a slow and long term build thread (when it happens).