Originally Posted by
Johnnysplits
Jester - Is twist in the wing or tail something that's obvious, or do you need to take 100 measurements to see it?
No you do not need to take 100 measurements. In fact of the first two you listed commonly done when marrying up the wing to fuselage on a new airplane I find it easier and more accurate not to mention pleasing to the eye, to do no measuring at all. Instead doing it visually and the trick is simply your eye perspective.
When fitting the wing to fuse I will stand the airplane with the wing in its cradle on the nose aginst a wall and stand back at leas fifteen feet. It now becomes very easy to see even small degrees of misalignment and easy to keep the wing perpendicular to the fuselage. This is that measurement manuals usually have you measuring wing tip to the rear of the fuselage.
The second measurement you listed is wing droop from level when the fuse is level. Agine propping the fuse up level on a bench with wing in the saddle it and backing well to the rear perhaps ten or fifteen feet it is agine easy to see any droop to the wing and it easy to see the same thing when fitting the stabilizer which should always be done after marrying up the wing to fuse.
Now moving on to the last mentioned situation which is twist in a wing. This one is slightly more problematic but yes once agine can be easily spotted if the right visual perspective is used.
This involves propping the fuselage up level on a table and agine a position to the side of the airplane straight out the wing is used a chair is use so you can keep your eye roughly the same level as the airplane. You should now be able to see the airfoil shape of the wing and from your position maybe ten feet away to see any twist in the wing and to see if it is trailing edge up or down. It is necessary to check both sides and compare. Both sides the same is OK. Both sides trailing edges slightly up (wash out) is desirable. Both side slightly down (wash in) is very undesirable. keeping in mind both wings should be the same.
Now having gone through all that I seriously doubt any of it is your problem. It is either a pilot problem i.e. technique or poor control set up throws etc. But I would cast doubt on any radio that just arbitrarily losses its bind. That to me is a serious and not casual problem. I only use Hitec and Futaba systems and that just does not occur.
John