Vans RV-G glider

Hmmm....

I was wondering if metal gliders have an L/D disadvantage due to the metal, or because of the lousy rivets and poor wing airfoil and draggy struts (of the SGS gliders, for example).

Is it possible to make a retract gear metal glider with flush rivets and a carry-through spar which would give 40:1 ratio, or is metal just a substance that won't allow the shapes or fine tolerances needed to make such a wing?

Vans seems to do an excellent job selling very high quality kits with very nice wings (metal). I wonder if they'd consider selling a Quickbuild glider kit?

I was wondering if metal gliders have an L/D disadvantage due to the metal, or because of the lousy rivets and poor wing airfoil and draggy struts (of the SGS gliders, for example). Is it possible to make a retract gear metal glider with flush rivets and a carry-through spar which would give 40:1 ratio, or is metal just a substance that won't allow the shapes or fine tolerances needed to make such a wing? Vans seems to do an excellent job selling very high quality kits with very nice wings (metal). I wonder if they'd consider selling a Quickbuild glider kit?

I believe there is a glider in the mind of their designer, but there are other projects to be completed first My memory (likely to be faulty !) tells me it was to be the RV11. Cheers, John G.

My Caproni A21S Calif is an all-metal side-by-side twoseater. Finish is in a way that you don't see any rivets, L/D is 41.5.

You pay an additional 10% of strucrural weight increase for having it in metal (comparison to a janus C model - about the same wing span, the same airfoil and pretty exactly the same polar). In a serial production, the cost of a Calif is *way* higher than the cost of a Janus (that's why Calif's are no longer in production).

If you want higher performance, it would mean more aspect ratio and less airfoil thickness - and then metal would get really heavy.