I have the Avistar AWARF, 59.5" wing span, 10oz tank, no steel rod for wing assembly, no Monocote covering, airplane ARF. I provide this discripton becasue there are 3 versions of the Avistar on the market in order to help identify the specific version I have.

My question; has anyone had the wings fold up during a fight of this aircraft? In my kit building days I would put about 6" wide fiberglass reinforcement down the middle of the wing where the halves would join. I look at the Avistar assembly instructions and I have some concern about the strength of the mid-section of the two wing halves where they are joined.

Any experince here would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. The plane will have an OS 46 FX installed.

Thanks!

With the plywood joiner and a lot of epoxy in, on, and around the joint, it's one of the strongest wings around... You don't need the cloth or anything like that. Just be generous with the epoxy and make sure the joiner is a tight fit...

i have the same exact plane... i used 30min devcon you know the epoxy that look like a syringe and has 2 tubes... it says 2 ton on the front of the package... anyhow i mixed up a good amout of the stuff and WENT CRAZY!!! put some in the hole where the joiner goes in on both sides lather up both sides of the wing glue in the alignment pin... dont worry about using to much glue after your done glueing press it tight.. wipe off excess.... while your holding it tight have someone put some tape to hold it then find a corner and lean the wing against the wall .... this is how i glued my wing and i have put it through ALOT of stress and it hasent seperated.... i too had the same woories you are having right now but if you glue it it will fly i have done inside and outside loops with this model and have 0 problems... you have a 46 engine so you shouldnt have any problems doing to really neat tricks.. i only have the 40LA

p.s. while your at it put some epoxy inside the top hatch along the firewall you will see 2 triangle peices epoxy the crap out of those also on the front of the firewall in the corners on the left and right side, also on the topunder the hatch.... you can never have a strong enoug firewall, and with the 46fx you will need it... mine worked itself loose in only about 7 flights with the 40LA just fix it now so you wont be fixing the whole plane later

Make sure your wing halves slide together with absolutely no gap in the center joint. You may have to sand the wing jointer a bit, and maybe even the end ribs.

All of the ones we've seen that had the center joint come apart have had insufficient gluing in the center. Use epoxy that has at least a 30-minute working time. Longer is better.

Load the pockets for the spar, and really get a good coat all over the mating surfaces of the center joint, especially at the leading edge, trailing edge, and upper and lower spar caps. You cannot use too much glue on the faces of the center ribs.

When you push the two wing halves together, a lot of glue will ooze out. Wipe it up with a paper towel or disposeable rag. Any residue left can be cleaned up with rubbing alcohol. Put some masking tape over the joint to hold it all together while the epoxy cures.

I bought the ARF that has the plywood spar between the two halves. I put lots of 30 min epoxy in and have never had a problem. I have let the local LHS owner use it and he has done rolling circiles, snap rolls (as best you can with the type of wing) and a lot of other aerobatic moves. It has hit the ground and cartwheeled several times, hit a catch fence 3 times, hit a limbo pole once with the left LE, flipped upside down on landing and other "great" moves. The wing is still together at the joint, it is probably 1/2 balsa dust under the covering by now, but the 2 halves are still together. One strong wing in my opinion.

Thanks to all of you who have responded. I will heed all the advice given. I now feel quite confident this wing will stay together based on all of your helpful advice. I'm still new to this "ARF" thing (and RC - been away from flying RC for 20 years). Since I'm not building from a kit I guess I'll have to trust someone elses skills and experince. Again, thanks all

Hey, since you have kit building experience, use it. If you have a funny feeling about something, ask around, or do something about it.

Don't just trust the ARF builders, they get things wrong now and again. I've seen all kinds of goofy things come loose on ARF and RTF planes. For a while, one company (I honestly forgot which) had a reputation for the servo trays not being glued in very well. We had more than one work loose in the fuse, though in all cases the resulting control slop was noticed and no crashes resulted.

Also, may ARFS have firewalls that I'm sure are fine on paved runways with good pilots, but it's rather common to have the firewall or nosewheel mount tear out after too many hard, nose-first landings.

Now, I wouldn't go adding too much reinforcement with out finding out if your particular plane has a weakness in these areas. I honestly don't know about that one.