ORIGINAL: outacontrol41
"I flown the Piper J3 Cub from Modeltech, the H9 Cessna 185 .60 and the H9 Cessna 182 giant scale 20lbs and many others without the struts and all came back in 1 piece after doing aerobatics all day, how do you explain that?"
Well, the explaination is in one word: "Wing tubes". Actually thats two words
. RC scale models rely heavely on wing tubes to carry the day. Without them, the non-aerobatic planes you mention (H9 Cessna 182, etc.) would definately lose a wing or two without the internal wing tube which adds great strength to the wing structure....and therby eliminates any real need for wing struts. Not so on a real aircraft. They are vital and crucial to keep the wings from folding and causing a disaster. They were designed and placed there for a reason...not just for looks.
"The wingspan and engine requirement of the Pawnee should tell you the struts serve no purpose."
That statement is over my head...I really don't know how to answer. Do you mean the full scale where they are definately required or the rc model that has wing tubes so struts are only cosmetic?
Well, take my answers with a grain of salt if you will...they make sense to me, however. Maybe someone else can weigh in on this and give one of us a physics lesson?
Well, I would fly my 1/4 scale clipped wing Sig cub w/o struts anytime. I would not attempt the same w/my Basa USA 1/4 scale Cub. In the BUSA plane, the struts are functional. Now, if you fly a scale model airplane why would one leave the truts off (well I flew my Goldberg Cub many time w/o struts because I forgot them at home, but that is another story). The planes look much better w/the struts on:-)
Gerry