Chuck,

Nice looking plane and aileron ends. That should give a slight advantage aerodynamically.

Eagle Flyer,

The wing span is most likely the main thing keeping the 4* floating. The turbulator provides better lift across the entire airfoil. You can think of it as helping the air to stick to the wing instead of being pulled away just past the leading edge. When this happens, the air usually reattaches to the surface at some unpredictable point like near the ailerons. Small turbulator devices on the British Harrier jet allowed the pilots to pull an extra G in tight maneuvers, such as dogfighting. The plane will handle better at all speeds and your stall characteristics will be better with the turbulator, but I also agree that sheeting the wing looks much better. I haven't decided what to do with my kit yet.

I wrote Bruce Tharp, who designed the 4*40, and asked him about the wing. He said that the stringers probably did act as turbulators, but that he designed it this way to keep the weight down. He is a nice guy and likes to talk with people who build his kits.

If anyone sees the Blade CX electric coax helicopter, look at the rotor blades. You will notice a zigzap pattern raised on the rotor blades. That is a turbulator. I don't know if the new CX has those, but my original version does.