ORIGINAL: AviationNut
Hi all. I have a Global Raven 60 kit and was contemplating replacing the lite-ply fuselage sides/bottom with the same-size (1/8th in.) balsa - keeping the lite-ply formers. I want to do this for 2 reasons, 1st the lite-ply seems like it's quite heavy and 2nd it is pretty badly warped.
I also want to replace the inner wing ribs with balsa as they are lite-ply as well - for weight considerations.
My question is will the airframe still be strong enough if I do this? I'm guessing it will be OK, but I would love hear other folks opinions on this as well.
What do you all think?
The hardest part about asking questions on these forums is to decide who's advice is BS. I will say this, lighter fly's better especially on smaller platforms. You can pull alot of weight from these kits and gain performance without sacrificing safety as some may have you believe simply because they don't know how to get there. I have been posting airframes on a diet build threads for years and have helped hundreds of builders enjoy the benefits of lighter airframes. Here is a short video of just one of my 40 % airplanes, it weighs 28 lbs. so that tells you that I left nearly 10 lbs of wood and garbage out of the build, this airplane is now 3 years old with over 500 hard flights, you be the judge...
PS This airplane should have a 150cc powerplant on the nose, but I installed a 100cc powerplant because of the lighter all up weight.
http://icanflyrc.com/JRFlyin/slides/Bob260.html
Bob