Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

I am currently assembling a Hanger 9 Pulse XT 40. After gluing the hinges to the wing and ailerons I notices that one of the ailerons is not flush on one end with the rest of the wing. The aileron's surface sits about 2-3mm below the rest of the wing's bottom surface. Again this is only one end of the aileron that does this. I am assuming the hinge slots were not alignned properly. Is this enough to worry about? Should I use debonder(never used before) to undo the CA and make it flush? Will the debonder affect the wood, covering in anyway? Can I reuse the hinges(probably not)?

Thanks for your time!

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

Yes, that much misalignment will have an effect. It depends on your flying whether or not it's worth the effort to fix it. It probably could be trimmed to fly level, but is going to affect the flight performance. For example, you might wind up with more tendency to tip stall on landing.

You won't be able to reuse the CA hinges. And getting debonder to penetrate like CA penetrates is wishful thinking. So pulling the hinges is going to be a beastly task. Since the hinges are basically already lost, just cut 'em. Place new hinges where the old ones aren't.

There are things to learn about "building" ARFs. You've just run into one of them. Always check where those Chinese sliced in the hinges before gluing. In the last year or so, I think I've built over 16 ARFs and have had to cut new hinge slots on maybe a quarter of them. Usually only one or two surfaces, but why even one?

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

GRRRRRRRR!!!!

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

I actually contacted Horizon Hobby to see if if is covered under warranty and have them send me a new wing/aileron. I'd rather start from scratch than tear it apart.

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

And they said...........??????

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

I sent email. I havent heard back yet. I will call from work later today and fill you in.

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

Fly it and see what/how much correction may be needed. It should be OK. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. ;)

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

I spoke to them today. Im not really sure if the gentleman understood my concern. At first he was only willing to ship me the aileron, but will be sending both the aileron and left wing. Seemed as if he was reading off of a trouble shooting cheat sheet or something.

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

If they did not ask that you send back the old one, take the time to learn how to fix this yourself, using the old wing.

Sooner or later ( and typically sooner ) you'll have to do this as daRock said so it's good to know how to do.

RE: Control Surface leading edge alignment
 

THEY DID NOT ASK ME TO SEND BACK...AND THAT IS MY PLAN...LEARN HOW TO FIX. I HATE FEELING STUCK. BUT IN THIS CASE, IT WAS BRAND NEW..SO I FIGURED I'D CALL. IT SEEMS LIKE A RELATIVELY SIMPLE FIX, BUT I DIDNT WANT TO TAKE THE CHANCE OF DOING SOMETHING WRONG AND THE HINGES NOT HOLDING OR HAVING TO SPEND $95 ON ANOTHER WING.