Randog_2

My Feedback: (2)

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to repair the aileron control rod? That might be the wrong name but I'm referring to the wire that is buried into the foam of the aileron. Following a hard landing I notice a good amount of freeplay. I have the little plastic hinges and I used hinge glue for installation. So I'm not sure how to go about fixing this without destroying my wing.

And regarding that small wire pushed into foam... is there a construction technique that will be sturdier for my next Formosa?
BTW, I've had some absolutely great flight flights...I love this aircraft, but I'm still learning. I have nosed in with modest speed on approach and the fuse just breaks in half. I wish the plane was a bit stronger...I really wish I was a better pilot I guess. Any other model suggestions or should I just tough it out and keep on repairing.

Trogdor the Burninator

For fixing the aileron you might try some foam-safe CA glue. You can just deflect the aileron as much as it will go and squirt some down there. Maybe put a little strip of wax paper to separate the wing and aileron so the glue wont stick the two together. I had some problems with hinges myself (I crashed a lot learning rolling harrier!) and just kept gluing. By the end my poor Formosa was like Frankenstein with glued cracks all over but ti still flew. After awhile though things started getting out of alignment so it had to be retired to that landfill in the sky.

If you really rough up the wire with like 60 grit sandpaper and use slow epoxy just for the torque rod (I think thats what its called) it should be a little sturdier but stronger usually means heavier. So stick it out and repair and dont be afraid to finally retire this one and build the slope model for 29 bucks as a replacement. Just transfer all the parts. And upgrade to brushless when you can and see what the Formosa really can do!

Good luck.

Randog_2

My Feedback: (2)

While building a new Formosa to replace my trainer I decided to "beef-up" the torque rod that pushes into the foam and is the direct connection to the aileron from the servo. This little tiny wire pushed into the foam and glued just eventually loosened the foam and could even push through.
Here's what I did. I cut a 3/4 inch length of antenae tube and CA'd it to the middle of a small piece of thin plastic. (about 1/2" x 1') Now I drill out the aileron in the location where the wire will go and cut a slit to slide in my new part (like sliding in a hinge). I epoxy this in and slide the torque rod in the antenae tube while attaching the hinges and now the "weak-link" is massivly improved.
For all you weight fanatics this may add a few grams of weight but the trade off is worth it.

Flypaper 2

Another way is to cut a groove into the bottom of the aileron where the wire is till you can dig the wire out. Put some 5 min epoxy around it. put it back in and fill the slot in with the 5 min. align it with the other aileron and let it harden. Won't add enough weight to hurt and gives the wire a lot more area to bond it in. Did this to the Zero and never moved after that.

GIFLYRC

I agree with FLYPAPER2,

the easiest and best way to repair the aileron torque wire is to slot out the wire from underneath the aileron and then fill the slot around the wire with epoxy

Did my Spitfire that way with excellant results

Roger aka GIFLYRC

Endor

Actually, I just used a 3/4 or 1" piece of the of the pushrod tube from another retired GWS kit... you can probably skip the thin plastic platform.

My method: mark and drill the hole in the aileron for the torque rod a bit bigger to fit the tube instead of the wire, coat the outside of the tube with GWS glue, slide the tube into the hole recessed about 1/4" inch from LE of aileron, install hinges in aileron, slide torque rod into installed tube when installing the aileron. I put a dab of 5min epoxy on the torque rod to "fill in" and remove some slight slop, as the tube is a touch bigger than the torque rod wire.

My Formosa, built with this simple method 9+ months ago, has hundreds of flights on it with NO slop on the ailerons.

IMHO, using some sort of hard plastic tube to encase the torque rod in the aileron is required for all the GWS kits. The rod will wear the soft EPS foam just too quickly without it.

vertigo72480

I have the slop problem with my Formosa too. I was considering reengineering the ailerons out of blue foam like I did to my E- Strater after it had a little run in with a tree top. On the way down the tree destroyed the white foam ailerons. I went home and cut out some new ones out of the blue fan fold foam and then wedged toothpicks into foam around the aileron torque rods. A litte foam safe CA and the joint is rock solid. The toothpicks go the depth of the ailerons from hinge edge to trailing edge. I might try the epoxy idea before I rip my ailerons off completely.