chevypower1930

Hey guys well my wings been together for about a week now and the Escapade is now done so I wanted to get everyone's feedback before she goes up for her maiden flight....

Idk what happened here with the wing.. I've never done this to a wing before.... it's as if the little dowel near the trailing edge of the wing wasn't lined up correctly to the hole in the other wing half..

anyways here it is! let me know what yall think, the wing looks completely straight except that dang trailing edge... The worst I was thinking is maybe it'd take a little trim in flight to get her tracking straight

Mr Cox

To be honest I don't really know...

It looks to me a little bit like the trailing edge on the left-hand wing root is not straight, if so then the rest of the wing might be better aligned. Try to check what happens to the rest of the wing and put in some washout if it does not already have it (same amount on both wingtips compared to the common wing-root). If the rest of the wing looks okay and the plane is ready to fly then I would just try it. You may have to correct a little by offsetting the ailerons and the left hand wing may also consistently stall before the right hand one, but only when really pushed, and that can all be tested in the air. You might not notice anything once it is trimmed in flight.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

This may cause the wing to be off when mounted to the airframe. You definitely need to mount it and check. That could throw one side of the wing way down. If that is the case that plane may struggle big time. Maybe it can be shimmed or something. Hopefully someone with more expertise will chime in on this.

DaveB

I don't believe it will make a significant difference, and correction should be attainable with a little trim. I would however, check the wing tips to determine any differences at the ends of the wing. To do this, set the plane on the bench and level it fore and aft. Then with an incidence meter, check the incidence at the wing tips. If the tip measurements are within a degree from each other, it should be o.k. Just my opinion, others may differ. In any case, I don't think you would have any major problems with a test flight.

DaveB

Augie11

To be honest, this is a tough call without actually 'being there'. I realize your attention is on the center of the wing where the problem is but it's at the wingtip where the problem will play out. Definitely mount the wing and have a look. Do you have an incidence meter? If so, measure the angle of attack right near the fuselage on both sides and that same angle out at the wingtips. If the angles at the tips are significantly different (more than about 1 degree), you essentially have the same effect as a wing warp and the plane may try to constantly roll. Hopefully you can trim that out. If you don't have a meter, place the plane on a level surface (hard to find but usually a floor may work) and measure the distance from each wintip to the ground. Move the plane around in a circle and see if the measurement stays the same to verify the level surface is level. I realize this is subjective but if you keep getting the same measurement you'll know you have that 'warp' effect. My GUESS is you do and will need to fly the plane to see if it can be trimmed out. I don't know of any to really correct the problem outside of either shimming the wing saddle or trying to remove the 'warp' and get the attack angles the same at both wingtips by perhaps applying heat while weighing down the 'high side' flat.

Another 'guess' is that aileron trim will work well enough but keep in mind that trimming out a problem is only a band aid. Trimming for level flight might be ok but a problem usually appears somewhere else like in inverted flight or loops and rolls. It's not the end of the world though once you are aware of the problem for this particular aircraft. We've ALL made similar mistakes and that's how we learn. The trick is to learn from this and make the next model, be it ARF or kit, even better.

Best of luck and stick with it.

chevypower1930

Hey guys thanks a lot for all the replies.... Alright now for all the answers:

-I don't have an incidence meter but I am going to measure at the wingtips today and that should really show me most problems, Idk how else I could measure the angle of attack.... be kinda tricky without an incidence meter....
-The wing does bolt onto the saddle fine, one side is a little tighter then the other going in but both sides fit in snugly.
-I personally THINK it could be trimmed out without a problem, but like somebody else said problems may arise during inverted flight, slow flight, landing approaches, etc...

Last thing to say, Is there ANY way to fix this. I wish I could get the wing apart and start over and figure out WHY the wing cured like this... But that's not really possible without tearing something up worse, especially with 30 minute epoxy haha.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

The wing cured like that because it was not properly supported during the cure in some way (thats assuming the fit was correct before the expoxy was applied).

Going just by the pics there is no doubt in my mind that there will be some degree of roll from the mis alignment. I also have no doubt that it can be handled with trim by a talented test pilot and I would fly first then make any decision on what to do. If you do not fit the description of "Talented Test Pilot" then great go ahead but if you are not then find one, simple really.

Yes of course there is a way to fix it and use a hacksaw in the process, then making some new butt ribs along with one or two spar doubler plates that are inserted surgically from either the top or bottom side.

I am currently involved in yet another anhedraled trainer which requires sawing the wing in two. A different reason but the process is the same and of course will require at least some covering.

John

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Wow RCU is on the wrong server agine that gigatsizes the pics and make the threads impossible to read. I,ve no idea of any way to fix that.

I suppose there is no way to know the hours when not to post pics?

Sorry

chevypower1930

Thanks buddy and yeah I'm a pretty good pilot I'm gonna take it up sometime next week I think and see what to do from there.. if it's TOO bad (I don't think it's going to be much problem) then I'd just buy a new wing set.... only 40 dollars and would just start over and ASSURE everything is well... and yeah Idk how it cured like this, there really is nowhere to CLAMP the wing on the escapade while drying... I had it clamped at the hold on "dowels?" on the leading edge and, clamped at the leading edge where the two halves actually met (idk how it slid out like this) then mask taped and had pressure on the wing overnight...

umm hopefully it won't be a problem.. any other input is appreciated and I will let yall know how the maiden goes possibly with video JUST IN CASE it is horrible! [>:]

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Then best of luck Adam I am sure you will be fine. Perhaps a little uncomfortable the first few laps while tweeking the trims but we all have 'been there done that' I suppose

Oh and cool will be looking forward to a Vid[8D]

John

Charlie P.

It's not horrible and can be corrected with aileron trim . . . mostly. The dihedral will absorb some of the problem. There will likely be some effect to loops and other maneuvers that will pull them out of perfect. That is, you'll exit at a different point than you entered. But who flies perfect, usually?

To do it right you'd need to split the wing and re-epoxy it as JohnB described.

alfredbmor

There is one simple thing to do, it is not going to solve the problem for complete but will ease it.
At Home Depot you can buy a roll of tape (the gray one) that is used to insulate some door or windows frames. It is made of thick foam, pick a medium thick and narrow roll of tape, put on both fuse wing saddles and place the wing. The warp will be distribuited on both wings, lessing the problem, (not solving at all). You may go and fly with the wing and fuse like they are by now, check your trims and then put the mentioned cushion tape and see if there is a change.

Good luck.

chevypower1930

Yeah I don't think it's going to be much problem... and once again if I have that NEED to fly perfect I'll get a new wing set and will NOT be hacksawing my wing as well as the joiner tube that's just a mess and more damage waiting to happen in my mind... as I'll be cutting through the carbon joiner tube as well as the dowels lining up the wing.... and I especially would rather have the wing joiner tube (which would be impossible to get out.) then to not have one...

Will most likely be maidening this thursday possibly if it's not too hot out (not full recovered from surgery and the heat kills me...)

chevypower1930

Good Idea! I have some of the "Foam sided" tape in the shop and it would make sense that that would probably help out although it never came to mind! I'll for sure fly it the way it is and hey it may be almost perfect.. if it's not then I'll def put on the foam and see if it changes

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

This is interesting. Please keep us updated on how it flies.

chevypower1930

WILL DO!

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

You will be fine Ah, I did not realise that airplane used a joiner tube. Definately not a good candidate for one of my anhedral jobs

chevypower1930

All I can really say is WOW.

I e-mailed Great Planes and just told them about the problem at hand and within 15 minutes got a reply E-mail and they are shipping out a replacement wing this week

AMAZING customer service.. can't beat that. This is one of the HUGE things that keeps me coming back to a customer when they do things like this....

Very happy customer!

So I guess we won't be seeing a wild maiden flight! haha but I will deff keep this wing as a replacement!

-Chevy

alfredbmor

So great to hear that.

I have been buying great planes products, hobbico, Carl Goldberg and all the line that Tower Hobbies carries, and I have never had any problem with defective products (just about two or three in 20 years). The last one was on a Carl Goldberg Kit and they sent the missing parts right away.

Hard to change and buy from Chinese products when you have this kind of service.

Good luck and I hope that the parts come ASAP.

chevypower1930

Absolutely agree with you... the customer service is absolutely what keeps me coming back! saving a few bucks with these chinese products isn't quite worth it when these guys do this kind of stuff for you!

I HAVE bought a few of these knock off park flyer spektrum receivers! I'm guilty of that, hahah, but my Airplanes will always be bought from the great American companies!

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Thats good to hear Chevy. Pretty exceptional customer service. That is a prime area when the fellow seek out the Hong Kong resellers.

Other chief areas that goes hand in hand along with rock bottom resellers are the lack of quality assembly manuals as those are very expensive to have developed and cheezy hardware with otherwise good airframes.

John

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Thats good to hear Chevy. Pretty exceptional customer service. That is a prime area that goes away when the fellow seek out the Hong Kong resellers.

Other chief areas that goes hand in hand along with rock bottom resellers are the lack of quality assembly manuals as those are very expensive to have developed and cheezy hardware with otherwise good airframes.

John

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

Yeah, we've all had that problem. I had one that I set up, applied the epoxy to the horizontal stab, made sure it was straight and went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I found it with the left side about a quarter inch lower than the right side. AND, there was a cat paw print on the wing. go figure.

It flew ok... looked wierd, but it flew ok.

CGr.

chevypower1930

hahah the cat paw got me! wonder how that left side ended up lower?

And yeah I don't think this wing would be a BIG problem, but would like to have my brand new plane i've been working on throughout my surgery recovery to be as straight as possible

the other wing will without a doubt be kept as an extra wing in case of any mishaps... still at a loss for words for how QUICK the reply was from Great Planes.. it was literally no more then 15 minutes and that's hard to find

Augie11

This is why I have 2 cats : ) !