ORIGINAL: wsmalley
I have attempted here to calculate the MAC and placed the pivot point at 25%. the 'actuator' is at the rear and the fuse and will link to the servo which will be inside. I placed some weights, as you can hopefully see, to balance the taileron, which is quite tail heavy. The question here is whether this the way to set up this surface to provide the best operation? If it matters, the surface will built up (lightening holes in the ply), sheeted, and glassed. It will be more or less symmetrical airfoil. Any thoughts? Bill S.
I've done field tests with full-flying stabs like what's shown in the pic you posted and I found that it's not really necessary to static balance the stab when the pivot point is at ~23% MAC. The aerodynamic tab provides more than enough force to counteract the weight of the stab that's aft of the pivot.
Looks like you're building a Flanker. Is that your own design? What's the power system going to be?
Dan