XL dihedral, need help
 

I really need some answers.you guys with these XL's how much dihedral is there on the wing? I'm building this awesome Patriot XL ,Jett 90,air retracts, the whole 9 yards and I'm stuck on one of the easiest parts. I know, I know you guys are thinking if I can't figure that out I should not be flying RC airplanes. Well this is my first kit ever , I'm a flyer not a builder, (7years) I hate building. My flying skills make up for my non building skills. My friends tell me I'm alittle anal when it comes to detail with my planes. My wife says I'm anal with everthing, go figure. SO anyway, sombody take that XL wing flip it over so the bottem is facing up and measure the center from the balsa skin to your flat table at the back of the wing. AND please post it .thanks guys.... that stupid wing joiner anyway.

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

It should show on the plans, or in the instruction book exactly how
to measure for the dihedral....I never saw any plans that didn't. ;)

FBD. :D

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

Dave, I read every word and number on the plans and nothing about dihedral measurments. Page 19 & 20 in the instruction manual says "glue the wing joiners together" ,"twist into place", V-shape of joiner points to bottom, next page same very basic stuff. you really can't put the joiner in wrong. Well when I do all that ,I have this 3/16 center gap on the top side. the manual does say to"fill in any gaps with more epoxy" I can understand some smaller gaps on either side but not that much. If sombody would be so kind to give me a measurment on a proven XL plane I could make the adjustments glue the wing together and move on. Thank you guys very much. Thanks Dave for your reply. RVBlack

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

OK, RV....I guess the center V-block sets the distance automatically,
but you would think a measurement would be there as well. You
should be able to sand the parts and get a better fit than that.

Good luck, RV....:D

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

I like that, the guys at work call me RV ,that put a smile on my face,thanks. Like I said, first kit. The bottom of the wing fits very nice but the top WOW . where do I sand to make up all that gap on top?

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

A couple times, I had to make a new dihedral brace....the one that
came fit so poorly I canned it . You really should strive to get an
almost perfect fit for the wing halves....I've seen a couple wings fold-up
in my days....not pretty. [:o]

Get the wings to fit perfectly first without the brace....then find out why
the brace inhibits that from happening... a lot of times they are just
too long. ;)

Dave. ;)

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

OK thats better, the wings fit good,not great ,not perfect with out the brace, I'll go back and see how better I can make it fit with alittle sanding, I'll try to make it perfect without the brace, then what, make my own brace? I can do that, or I can sand the stock one and make it fit. I just did'nt want to change the dihedral by mistake or by to much sanding.

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

RV,

Don't be afraid to take a little extra of the joiner. The important thing is the wing roots stay flush with each other. (I can only assume the wings were built with the root of the wing having the pitch for the dihedral). When they're actually joined, epoxy will fill any voids in the joiner slot/area.

Can you post pics?

Gary

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

Could somebody tell me what the dihedral is for the XL after the wings are joined together. PLEASE. And tell me how you measured it so I can do the same. then I'll quit bugging you guys. RV

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

If there's nothing noted on the plans, then the dihedral is set according to the joiner you epoxied together. Part #'s are WJ1 & WJ2 ( This is from the manual)


From the manual:

"2. Test fit the wing panels with the wing joiner. Note the
direction of the “V-shape” of the wing joiner. The bottom of
the “V-shape” points to the bottom of the wing. Insert the
joiner by sliding it in at an angle and twisting into place."

Page 19....

It doesn't give you a dimension, so a light sanding will be needed to assure the correct dihedral, and a snug joiner fit.

Gary

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

AIRGAR, do you have a XL ?

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

RAZOR-RCU, do you have an XL

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

Nope... ;)

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

planecrazy the only reason no one has told you is because there is not
a spec for the dihedral... the wing joiner is the gauge... I had the
same problem you do with the gap on the top side, in this case I put the
joiner in one wing and made a shim to equal the gap that way I didnt
change the dihedral then I put them together and made sure there was no
gap... after all that I used plenty of epoxy, enough to ooze out all
over, to put the wing together.
I hope this helps, but if not here is the measurement for each side to
be lifted a the last rib on the tip of the wing... 1 inch

best of luck to you
speedy

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

Speedy, thanks, I'm glad I found somebody that had the same problem I did with that wing & joiner. And thank you very much for telling me how you fixed it. & for everybody else thank you too. I'm not that anal. am I ???????????????????? when I get closer to being done I'll show some pic's, I think you all will like what I'm doing. RV

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

When my wing is upside down on the table, there is 1 5/8" between the table and the wing at the center trailing edge. Hope this helps.

Planecrazy....I tried to email you back the answer to your question, but the emails kept bouncing back.

RE: XL dihedral, need help
 

Thank you very much Kaptan Kaos for your response. The wings are joined together, I got 1 11/16, Paulrcpilot-rcu got the same ( not counting the plywood wing bolt reiforcement ) . Thanks again guys.