ORIGINAL: billberry189
Duane,
Just weighed my wing halves yet again. Rt. wing half came to 28.4 ozs. and Lt. wing half to 29.6 ozs. making the left wing 1.2 ozs. heavier. When I laterally balanced my Simla, it was fully loaded with everything but fuel and required only 1/4 oz. added to the left wing to bring it into balance. The fuselage was in finish primer and the wing halves were in uncovered balsa. With a little bit of effort I should be able to ''paint'' in the required 1/4 oz. into the left wing half, eliminating the need to add extra weight. The wings also had all hardware installed including servos, linkages, and landing gear. At this point, I can't help but think that I'm on the right track. What do you think?
Bill
I'm at work, and I can't remember the wing weights off my head, so I'll weigh the finished wings tonight and report back to you. If those weights are correct, (total of 58oz or over 3-1/2 lbs, plus tube), and they are still bare balsa, that sounds a bit on the heavy side to me, but I need to check again. I think my unfinished wing halves were under two pounds with the contest balsa, but the primer and polyurethane Radio South finish added a lot to the weight, (at least the way I "gooped" it on.
Sounds like the lateral balancing is right on...adding only 1/4 ounce is excellent. "Weight is weight", but maybe weight in the form of extra paint will make it look shiny-er...it will probably look a lot better than adding lead, then fixing the hole.
Duane