Here's one for you Aerodynamists out there.

[Shaggy]

After almosts two years of sitting on the shelf, and me making peace with the idea of never flying it, I finally got my E-Starter out and flew it. And now I've recaught the bug for RC aviation.
This has also got me to thinking about possibly trying to scratchbuild some WC designs for flight, the Thunderbolt in particular. The problem with WC3 era Confed birds is that they are, for the most part, blocky creations with no real lifting surfaces. So the hard part is working lifting wings into the design while maintaining the look.
My idea is to create a ducted wing. The Hellcat or Excalibur would be the logical starting point for an intial working model. For example, on the Hellcat, the vents along the leading edge of its main wings could be used to cover the ducted wing, which would be the main construction of the bottom of the wing. The top section, which would cap off the box created by the ducted wing, would be a flat piece without any taper, to avoid an inverted wing shape or minimize any undesireable aerodynamic flow.
So can you visualize it? Do you think it can work?

 

[Wedge009]

I'm no aerodynamics expert, nor a remote-control craft enthusiast, but my question is why wouldn't you start with a design that's more obviously inspired by real-world aeroplanes and therefore more likely to include the wing surfaces you need to provide lift? I'm thinking of the winged craft like the Hornet, Morningstar, Sabre, maybe even the Rapier. Why focus on WC3 in particular, especially given that, as you say, they are blocky designs resulting from the limitations of the polygonal engine they were working with?

 

[QuailPilot]

I would try a Morningstar or Sabre.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Perfectly level flying is the supreme challenge of the scale model pilot.

 

[Shaggy]

I'm no aerodynamics expert, nor a remote-control craft enthusiast, but my question is why wouldn't you start with a design that's more obviously inspired by real-world aeroplanes and therefore more likely to include the wing surfaces you need to provide lift? I'm thinking of the winged craft like the Hornet, Morningstar, Sabre, maybe even the Rapier. Why focus on WC3 in particular, especially given that, as you say, they are blocky designs resulting from the limitations of the polygonal engine they were working with?

I'd like to take a crack at building a Raptor, and have sort of done it in Real Flight 3, but the reason for WC3 craft is that I really want to fly my own Thunderbolt model. The Raptor and the Thunderbolt are my favorite WC planes and they're the ones I'm really interested in flying on a regular basis. My first scartchbuild will probably be a Hornet, because it's mostly one big lifting body, but for right now I want to get the discussion going and get some ideas flowing. Maybe I'll try to put together a DW prototype and see if I can get it to fly.