[Balloon-makers] Racer Shape

[Donnelly, Shanon]

Greetings all,

I am coming to the end of building a racer shape and am curious to hear 
folks thoughts on some of the questions posed in the previous couple of 
emails.  I took the path of basing my pattern off of one of the 
commercial builder's shapes and so the volume should come out similar 
to that (60k).  It would not take too much CAD knowledge to scale the 
pattern to another volume.  Obviously, in terms of surface area to 
volume, a racer does not use fabric efficiently.  The fact that the 
panels are closer to rectangles might save a bit on wastage, but not 
much.  I have been told by the manufacturers (that are trying to sell 
their balloons) that the tall/skinny racer shape has a higher lift to 
volume efficiency due to something about less thermal stratification 
and therefore more of the volume can be heated to a higher temp.

A year and half ago when I started, I just wanted to build something 
different...now these things are everywhere.  c'est la vie.

Happy to share the pattern I used if anyone cares to look at it.

best,

Shanon

Kent, OH

Quoting cpack <cpackdo at citynet.net>:

> Sandy,
> Glad to hear Jeffs plane project is flying along. Fabric is so much softer
> than metal and rivets. The racer shape is interesting to me for the possible
> low drag shape ( horizontally).  I wonder how efficient it is on
> volume/fabric and lifting capacity ?
> Let me know if you make any progress on the shape.
> Fly safe,
> Curtis
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sandy" <sandyhix at verizon.net>
> To: "Norm Best" <pilotnorm at isp.com>; "Paul Vincent Craven"
> <paul at cravenfamily.com>; <balloon-makers at taleos.com>
> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 8:12 AM
> Subject: Re: [Balloon-makers] Singer Oiling and Gremlins
>
>
>> Daydreams...
>> I'd like to build a racer type balloon next spring when I get my garage
> back
>> after Jeff's project is moved to a hanger.  While I can build one simply,
>> well alot of calculations, by copying one on the market, I am
> mathamatically
>> challenged to calculate the volume.  Does anyone have a program similar to
>> the Smalley spreadsheet?
>> Any thoughts on "racer" type balloons.
>>
>> Sandy Hixenbaugh-Barlett
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Norm Best" <pilotnorm at isp.com>
>> To: "Paul Vincent Craven" <paul at cravenfamily.com>;
>> <balloon-makers at taleos.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 10:52 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Balloon-makers] Singer Oiling and Gremlins
>>
>>
>> >I have a few daydreams , but thats about as far as it gets .       Norm
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "Paul Vincent Craven" <paul at cravenfamily.com>
>> > To: <balloon-makers at taleos.com>
>> > Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 6:44 AM
>> > Subject: Re: [Balloon-makers] Singer Oiling and Gremlins
>> >
>> >
>> >> On 8/8/07, cpack <cpackdo at citynet.net> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> Are you guys getting ready to work on any fall/winter projects?
>> >>
>> >> I'm thinking on starting a basket. I'd prefer to avoid the steel cable
>> >> and conduit, and just use critical-use type rope. And I'm thinking of
>> >> using 4 composite tanks at 33 lb propane each. Use standard mounting
>> >> for a Cameron or Lindstrand burner.
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Paul Vincent Craven
>> >> http://www.cravenfamily.com
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> Balloon-makers mailing list
>> >> Balloon-makers at taleos.com
>> >> http://lists.taleos.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/balloon-makers
>> >>
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Balloon-makers mailing list
>> > Balloon-makers at taleos.com
>> > http://lists.taleos.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/balloon-makers
>> >
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Balloon-makers mailing list
>> Balloon-makers at taleos.com
>> http://lists.taleos.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/balloon-makers
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Balloon-makers mailing list
> Balloon-makers at taleos.com
> http://lists.taleos.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/balloon-makers
>