Seagull Spacewalker wing alignment
10-07-2006 | 08:33 PM
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From: BrisbaneQueensland, AUSTRALIA
Seagull Spacewalker wing alignment
I'm putting together a Seagull Spacewalker, which is well reviewed and seems to be a favorite plane for many RCU members.
However, I was very surprised this morning to discover that the wing is very badly aligned with the fuselage. (The dowels and bolt-holes are pre-installed in the factory). I was trying to align the stab with the wing before epoxying the stab in place, but couldn't get it right, so decided to check the wing alignment and found that the distance between one wingtip and the fuse rear is a good half-inch more than the other. This makes it impossible to align the stab with the wing without putting it very seriously out of alignment with the fuse as well. Re-aligning the wing will be a hard task, as it means filling the bolt holes and redrilling them in the right places, just a little further away from the original places.
Could I ask for some advice on this? If I leave the wing where it is, will it make a lot of difference to the flying of the plane? If I do so, how should I then align the stab, with the fuse or with the wing? As mentioned above, the latter would put it really out of kilter with the fuse.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks, fellas!
However, I was very surprised this morning to discover that the wing is very badly aligned with the fuselage. (The dowels and bolt-holes are pre-installed in the factory). I was trying to align the stab with the wing before epoxying the stab in place, but couldn't get it right, so decided to check the wing alignment and found that the distance between one wingtip and the fuse rear is a good half-inch more than the other. This makes it impossible to align the stab with the wing without putting it very seriously out of alignment with the fuse as well. Re-aligning the wing will be a hard task, as it means filling the bolt holes and redrilling them in the right places, just a little further away from the original places.
Could I ask for some advice on this? If I leave the wing where it is, will it make a lot of difference to the flying of the plane? If I do so, how should I then align the stab, with the fuse or with the wing? As mentioned above, the latter would put it really out of kilter with the fuse.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks, fellas!
10-08-2006 | 12:38 PM
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RE: Seagull Spacewalker wing alignment
It won't be as hard as it may seem... knock out the blind nut's...fill in the holes with some wood dowel and epoxy and re drill the bolt holes in the right place... you can probably even reuse the blind nut's. If you question the rear wing mount at all just remove and replace it with better wood... then you have clean wood to drill into.
You could PROBABLY get away with the out of kilter wing... if you go this route then square up the tail feathers with the fuse... me I'd just fix it and be done with it.
John
You could PROBABLY get away with the out of kilter wing... if you go this route then square up the tail feathers with the fuse... me I'd just fix it and be done with it.
John
10-11-2006 | 05:44 AM
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From: BrisbaneQueensland, AUSTRALIA
RE: Seagull Spacewalker wing alignment
Thanks for your good advice, John. Actually, I found the misalignment wasn't as bad as I originally thought. I was able to fix it by slightly enlarging the bolt holes in the wing, moving the wing enough to align it and then glueing a small piece of plywood on each side of the trailing edge alongside the fuse to act as positive locators. Works fine!
