Hi,
Dihedral improves lateral stability, in other words, it improves the model's tendancy to roll wings level by itself after any sort of disturbance during straight and level flight.
Originally Posted by
Fidd88
so it'll make the model a bit of a handful with a cross-wind or gusting conditions. (I used to watch Antonov transports with marked anhedral landing in severe cross-winds at RAF Manston - which was bloody scary!)
The model should be less affected by crosswind the less deflection it has from the 180° plane. In other words, all other factors staying the same, a wing without di- or anhedral will be the most stable during crosswind take offs or landings.
During crosswind take offs or landings the plane is flown out of balance, also called cross controls. Ailerons into the wind and opposite rudder. This is to align the longitudinal axis with the runway and direction of travel, but to fight drift caused by wind. Any plane with dihedral would be more difficult to fly cross controls as the dihedral wants to roll the plane in the same direction as applied rudder. Also, a wing with dihedral or anhedral tends to be picked up or pushed down by a gust of crosswind more than a wing without any.
Big transport planes with top wings such as Antonovs, C17s and C5s have anhedral. Anhedral decreases lateral stability. This is intentionally designed into the plane to offset the huge stability created by the pendulum effect of hanging a lot of mass below the wings.