lateral balance?
 

Will the weight of a large glow engine effect the lateral balance of my plane?. Seems that unless I mount the engine inverted that the cylinder weight will always pitch the plane to the right side?. -OR- am I thinking way too much.! Thanks

RE: lateral balance?
 

Cylinder, muffler, battery placement etc can effect the lateral CG.

If you plan on flying 3d plan on taking some time setting up your plane for proper lateral and longitudinal balance.

RE: lateral balance?
 

Thanks. I was concerned that the flight characteristics of a plane with poor lateral CG would look like:
Too much differential coming out of a roll ? (True - False)
Pitching toward the canopy during KE-? ( True- False)
Going offline during straight climbs- ? (True-False)

So if the mass of the engine is on the right side of the plane VS. being inverted is that going to be a problem for 3D flight? So far my smaller planes it did'nt matter but this Saito 150 is heavier and I want to know NOW before I install it!

RE: lateral balance?
 

It will make a difference if it is off. Can cause wing rock too. Even with the engine mounted directly under you still need to do lateral balance because most 3D planes have built in right thrust. So right there your engine is off to a side some.

Dont try to check lateral by grabbing the spinner because that will give your incorrect answer. What I do and works out pretty well is with the cowl off I find center point on firewall and mount string there. Maybe by a screw in firewall or by drilling a hole and looping around or what ever works best for you to attack string. Then on rear find center and mount string in rear with what ever method works for your plane. I also used a tall dowl and made a stand out of it. Then marked center on bottom and set plane on it.

Some people never check the lateral and fly them well as is. But it is always nice to have your plane balanced out as best as possible so it will fly smooth and straight. The rest is up to the flier to make it look good in air.

RE: lateral balance?
 

OK . I planned on doing lateral balance anyways so ..end of discussion. Thanks.