Splinter and Breck of Brooklyn Aerodrome posted a video appreciation/critique of our cover for MAKE vol. 30, which features (a version of) their Towel R/C flying wing. The Towel is one of the featured projects in the magazine, and Breck did a fantastic job writing and photographing the how-to article.
The video notes some liberties that we took with the wing shown on the cover. Here is our official response:
Thanks guys– you rule! It was fun working on this.
On the safety issue, note that the all-Coroplast body version of the wing that we built and shot for the cover of MAKE Volume 30 is a variant of the Brooklyn Aerodrome design that’s detailed in the how-to article inside. Our engineering intern Dan Spangler (that’s him flying it on page 83) built it for fun after building the by-the-book version inside, and we all loved how it looked.
We agree with this video that, all other variables being equal, it would hurt more to be hit by our “cover model” variant than by the original foam-body flying wing described in the actual instructions, and that by sizing the removable deck such that it reaches the leading edges of the airframe rather than stopping back an inch makes it more subject to damage. That’s also a good point about the receiver being backwards on the cover photo version.
The take-away here is, if you want to build the Towel R/C flying wing, follow the instructions, photos, and illustrations in the actual article, not our cover model– which (like other cover models) looks good but might not be as practical.
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