Thuleman

Folks,

I am building my very first RC plane, it is an AFR e-powered glider (Scorpio Java 150), it has a dihedral wing and I will try to explain my problem the best I can.

When the kit came the wing came in two parts, on each part the ultracote had to be cut, a shim removed, and the outer part of the wing folded up a bit and glued where the shim was removed to achieve the (outer?) dihedral. That went fine, I used CA and there is no gap where the shim used to be.

Then I had to join the two wing halfs to form the complete wing. The joint relies on two small dowls and the fact that one is supposed to glue along the crossection. Another requirement is that when the inner wing of one half is flat on the ground, the tip of the other half is supposed to be 130 mm off the ground.

I did that, it is 130 mm off of the ground, but the wing halfs are only joined by the dowls and by the "bottoms" of the crossection. There is a large (~ 1 mm) gap between the two wing halves. In retrospect I should have used epoxy and not CA as the epoxy would have provided more volume.

Now my question, what can I use to fill this gap? It should not be too complicated, yet strong so that it does act as bong between the two wing halves.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

DGrant

My Feedback: (4)

You can probably still use epoxy effectively here. I would use the 30minute variety,,,making sure it doesn't run all the way through the other side. Get some denatured alchohol to clean your covering should any ooze through the gap. To use the alchohol put some on a paper towel and just wipe the area being careful to not smear it more. The 30minute will fill it decently, and give some resilient strength as well...that's my suggestion, without breaking it apart again...and should you do that, a good sanding block would be needed to true the root-ribs to each-other. Good luck.

$ircra$halot

Greetings Thuleman: For future reference I would not recomend using ca on any wing joining process, I always use 30 min epoxy, if for nothing else, piece of mind. I have had a wing fold on me. I would get some ca de-bonder and take it apart and start over. But you may be able to wedge a piece of balsa in there the size of the gap with epoxy on both sides the lenght of the gap, sand it to shape, then glue a fiberglass strip 1" to 1 1/2" wide top and bottom. Problem is epoxy may not stick to the ca 100%, but if the ship is light enough you may get away with it, as long as you don't go doing loops with it, or any other high stress manouvers. Good luck. Always happy to help if I can. Garry

Thuleman

Thanks for everyones suggestions. Taking the wing apart is not an option, I CA'ed the holes in which the dowels go, so those are permanently in place, and short of using a saw to carefully cut the dowels there is no way to get the wing apart again.

Flying weight will be about 28 oz. at 453 sq. in. of wing area. Bascially this is my trainer, use the prop to gain altitude, stop the motor, glide down, repeat. Come summer I will try to find thermals as well. So in general there will be no high-stress situations (for the plane anyway), but once I know what I am doing I may just try a loop or two.

The reason I went for CA is that I don't really have a place to build the plane, I basically do it on my desk at home. Thus it is a bit tricky to keep things in place for 30 minute epoxy to set.

I tried to CA the elevator to the fuselage yesterday and failed miserably. The balsa basically soaked the CA up and there wasn't enough to form a bond. The whole thing came apart as soon as I let go of it after about 5 minutes. I am using thin CA, and I am learing from it, that is for sure. I will hit the only local hobby shop today and see what they have, last time I have been there I haven't seen much R/C flight related at all.

Thanks again.

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Don't take it apart, put masking or plastic tape on the top so stuff doesn't leak out, heat some 30 min epoxy and dribble it in so it fills. Don't heat it too much, it will get really thin. Fill your space. Not a huge deal if you don't get it plum full, that won't add to the streangth that much. The spar and pieces you put through there are what give it the streangth. Other option is to just leave it alone. That probably won't hurt either.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Ditto