REFLECTOR: Snake Oil or the Best thing since Orville & Wilbur?

[Douglas Holub]

Has all of my sanding been counter-productive?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alex Balic" <alex157 at direcway.com>
To: "Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list" <reflector at tvbf.org>
Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 4:20 PM
Subject: RE: REFLECTOR: Snake Oil or the Best thing since Orville & Wilbur?


> That tape does work- I have seen similar tapes used on competition
> sailplanes- the stuff I saw had a built in scallop shape to it (instead of
> dimples) that basically acted as a flat set of VGs, but as I remember, you
> need to place it in just the right location on the chord to be effective,
so
> the guy who is selling it (or one of us) needs to do some
> experimenting......  I don't know about 15% efficiency increase, that
sounds
> like a lot, but hell, who knows, somebody get that guy to send out a
loaner
> and let us know.  I know that a smooth golf ball hardly flies at all, and
> that torpedoes intentionally have a rough surface to reduce drag......
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On
> Behalf Of Scott Baker
> Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 2:36 PM
> To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
> Subject: REFLECTOR: Snake Oil or the Best thing since Orville & Wilbur?
>
>
> At EAA Golden West a fellow (credenitals unknown) dropped by the Velocity
> display to introduce a product that would "increase cruise speed and
> propeller efficiency by 15%".  This miracle product was a something akin
to
> high-tech Scotch tape with numberous "bumps" on it, creating a "golf ball"
> type of surface.  In fact, the fellow likened his product to the
performance
> of a golf ball.
> Has anyone tried this "golf ball" tape product either on the wings or the
> propeller?
> I'm just curious if this is "Snake Oil" or the "Best thing since Orville
and
> Wilbur"?
> Scott B.
>
>
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