Niki Nelly in English

Niki's NELLY (1.8m Thermal Glider)

Airfoil		Polyhedral/Flapperon
	Wing length	1800mm
	Profile	S4083mod
	Wing area	29.4dm2
	Wing loading	11.9g/dm2
	Structure	Carbon D-Box covered by Oralight™
	Portability	2 piece wing 2bolts

Tail plane	Profile	flat (form coated by micro glass)
Tail plane	plane area	2.29dm2

etc.	Total weight	350g
	Radio gear	4 servos (or 6 servos)
	Fuselage Length	1000mm (up to the trailing edge)

Nelly is a well-known as the aileron version sailplane in the series of Niki's models. It is also familiar as the Highlight Acro. Both polyhedral and Flapperon wing are available as the name of Nelly. As shown in the pictures in the page, the Nelly Flapperon has the flat wing that has almost zero dihedral, as is usual in the aileron models. The fuselage is the same as that of Betty. It is made by the Carbon and Kevlar cloth using Epoxy, that is, stiff and light. Nelly is the model and flies at the middle speed range. After experience of Betty model, the Nelly is the best model to learn the hand-catch and the aileron operation. The beautiful form covered with the transparent Oralight™ match with the transparent blue sky. (c.f. Nelly is introduced as the 1.8 meter glider without aileron, the polyhedral model).

The factory model of the Nelly Flapperon has the one servo on the each side of the wing. However, if the Nelly dives from the high place or on the slope,
the wing should have four servos in order to avoid the flattering of the aileron. It makes it a little heavier than the two servo wing, it is suit for the slope glider. The flap can be used as the air brake that is effective to make it land at the safe manner onto the slope.

Designer
/Manufacture

Nikolay Nikolov / Nan Model. (Bulgaria)

Price/Reseller

Northeast Sailplane (NSP) (USA)
RC-Sailplane.com (Japan)
TUN modelbau. (Switzerland )
Frankenmodellbau (German)
RC-Sailplane.com (Japan) (here!)

Gallery


Look at the overview of the balanced and beautiful form.of Nelly. The combination of the white frame and the transparent OralightTM	Rendezvous with the Moon. The Nelly flied up to so high at that day.	Stable turn using its ailerons

Beautiful flight	Nelly perfectly matches the transparent blue sky.	Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her.

The simplest way to fix the canopy is fasten using the heat shrink tube. If you were a professional, the steel line would be used.	The hook must be equipped for shock code. The finger peg is for throwing Nelly into slope. If you toss Nelly for seeking any ground thermal, then your shoulder would be broken.	The owner, Mr. Endoh with Nelly. The grass in the park, transparent blue sky and the green covered Nelly.

The tip end of the wing of Nelly curls up slightly so as to make Nelly improve its stability.	Mr. Endoh divided the flapperon of Nelly into the aileron and the flap. The flaps of each side are exchanged so that the flap hinges at the lower surface. As a result, the flap can be down up to the right angle. The air brake works effectively.	The tail plane is the mould flat tail with carbon reinforcement.

The wing is mounted using two nylon screws. The beautifulness and stiffness of the Carbon D-BOX wing is highly evaluated for long time. An insect was taking a rest on the D-BOX.	factory model has only the servo box for aileron, not but flap. The servo box for flap can be added by your self. The Clevis and horns are included into the standard price. The insect remained still on the BOX.

Nelly is bigger one time than Radina DLG 1.5m long.	Nelly flapperon has very little dihedral.

The two pieces wing are connect using carbon rod with 4mm diameter. (The photo is of Nelly Polyhedral.)	The molded tail plan can be sold alone.	Nelly-Polyhedral model

Comments

Wing:

(1) The wing structure and stiffness
The wing is Carbon D-BOX structure. Its structure enclosed by D-BOX is constructed by balsa lib and is covered by ORALIGHT. It results in the stiff and light wing as a whole. Nelly is not be jackknifed even if it towed by the F3B strong winch. The two pieces wing is just portable and can be accommodated into the luggage space of the cars. The two pieces of the wings are connected by the Carbon rod with 4mm diameter. The wing will be mounted by two nylon screws and two dowel rods on the fuselage tightly.

(2) 4-servos wing
The full span aileron (flapperon) is about 80cm long. If an flapperon is drove by single servo, the long aileron could not be sustained and finally flutter. In the worst case, the gear of the servo would be broken. (Aileron is placed using the hinge tape. it is not the so-called skin hinge.)

There is no problem when it is towed by the shock code, if it is towed by strong wing for comparatively long time. It is recommended that the long aileron should be divided into the short aileron and the flap. It means the wing equips four servos. In addition, the long aileron would be distorted in the course of time. Even the neutral position is set at the root of the long aileron, the other side would be displaced from the neutral position in bad cases. Therefore the four-servo wing is strongly recommended. The factory model is the two servos wing, however it is easy for anyone to make it the four-servo wing using the balsa tip and reinforcement material. The guide tube has enough space for six wires at each side.

When the long aileron is equally divided into two pieces, the location of the servo for aileron will be near the inner edge of the short aileron. It will cause flutter of the short aileron. Therefore the short aileron should be cut longer the flap. Otherwise aileron servo box should be rebuilt at the center of the short aileron. The flaps at each side should be exchanged each other so that the flap hinges at the lower surface of the wing. Thus the flap can be down up to near the right angle.

(3) Nelly Polyhedral
There is Nelly Polyhedral 1.8m long. This is the elder sister of the Betty polyhedral. If the wind is so weak at the slope after long drive, or if you find exciting spot at the different town, the Nelly will be the best model to watch wind safely and with easiness.

Fuselage:

The Nelly and Betty series uses the same fuselage. The early fuselage was made of Kevlar with Carbon reinforcement. Kevlar is the material that has the stronger tenacity compared with Carbon material. The latest fuselage is made of the cloth using Kevlar and Carbon are woven on the bias. This fuselage stiffer than the early model. As the hook is not attached with the factory model, the commercial product is used. If you need the finger peg, the carbon pipe with 5.0mm diameter is the best.

Flight:

Nelly is launched using the shock code in usual to seek the ground thermal. If you are strong enough, the Nelly may be tossed by hand. The common way to enjoy flying is to launch the Nelly using Shock code about 30m long up to more than 50m high. The Nelly has the aileron, it flies well on the slope. However additional ballast is expected to be loaded in case of slope flight. Nelly Polyhedral flies at the low speed range. It will be helpful for training the hand-catch. Personally, I like flying Nelly on the slope comfortably.

(Updated on 25 Sep., 2005