RCU Forums - View Single Post - Alpha 40
Thread: Alpha 40
View Single Post
Old 11-21-2010 | 06:43 AM
  #13  
Luchnia's Avatar
Luchnia
My Feedback: (21)
 
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 2,079
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
From: Amelia, VA
Default RE: Alpha 40


ORIGINAL: JH313

Since then I modified them to bolt on wings and she is a fantastic bird now. Getting rid of the rubber bands was the best move I ever did with my Alpha 40.
I think i'll do that too, how did you do that?
There are a number of places out on the internet for bolt on wing mods. Just do a search for bolt on wing conversions or something like that to give you ideas. If I get time I will take some photos of mine, or maybe some others can post theirs. This is something you can do when you don't have decent flying weather.

I bought the Dubro wing bolt downs to bolt to the fuselage and I just added a plate for support for the plastic screws. I also added a plywood plate in front of the leading edge on the fuse with a dowel hole. I then added a couple of plywood plates to the underside of the wings at the leading edge to support a dowel and installed an oak dowel. Works great!

Maybe it isn't for everyone and there are some debates over this issue, but for me the rubber bands got to become such a hassle that I was tiring of it so I did the mod. All of my planes have bolt on wings. The nice thing is that the wing mod can be done at anytime and I just picked some bad weather and did the mod.

Oh, on the rubber bands, one thing to check frequently is the condition of your rubber bands. Even new rubber bands can be bad sometimes. Don't re-use them too much and stretch them out at least once to tell if they are ok. I have had brand new ones break by stretching. I have found that when I do that I can tell if they are going bad. You can see small places in them when you stretch them out.