RE: Gap Seal Tape - What is your opinion?
This is an interesting thread so I'll chime in!
Years ago I had a Craftair Freedom (remember those?). I used plastic hinges with hing pins, so there was a roughly 1/16" air gap between the ailerons and the sub-trailing edge of the wing.
I made gap covers for the top of the hing gap out of monokote. One day during dive, about 1/2 way down, I saw one of the gap covers suddenly peel off. The Freedom immediatly yawed through about 30-40 degrees, oscillating back and forth and eventually returning to fairly straight flight (maybe 5 degrees off-heading?). She also slowed down noticeably.
So, yes they do have an effect, and it can be noticeable.
I made my gap covers out of a 3/4" wide strip of monokote. VERY lightly score down the length 1/4" in from one edge. Fold along score (adhesive side in) such that your strip is now 1/2" wide (1/4" wide area with adhesive plus 1/4" wide area that's folded over - so no adhesive. Run the iron along the folded section to seal it together. Lay the exposed adhesive side on the last 1/4" of the sub-trailing edge and iron down. The remaing 1/4" will seal the gap without getting grass/dirt/dust stuck to it. Hope that made sense, if not someone say so and I'll post a pic.
-E