I've been putting my Sturdy Birdy II through it's paces and I've come to this understanding that rubber bands are not enough, no matter how many, in keeping the wing on the plane! I've dived the plane from a few hundred feet up and every time I "pull up" out of the dive......the fuselage maintains the dive while the wing does what I want it to do and that is "pull up", but they don't do it together!!!!!!![:@] I'm tempted to pull out the pipe strapping and make the wing a permanent part of the plane. My question is this........shouldn't I be able to fly this trainer as hard as I can and shouldn't it be able to take it? Or......is this a plane that isn't supposed to "do" much other than teach takeoff and landings as well as stable level flight? Don't misunderstand me..........I'd rather fly something than nothing at all, but I also like to learn by pushing the envelope.
Have a great day........I am!
XS

I think your asking too much for the plane especially a couple hundred feet down then an abrupt up,i'm not trying to be smart but realistic but if you want,why not put it on with nylon screws ? but by doing so you might rip the wing apart.

*just trying to help*

This is the reason they put throttles on planes.

One of the gentlemen at the field I began flying at showed me a small trick that does work. Put 8 rubber bands on, 2 on each side front to rear, and 2 on each side crisscross to each other. Carefully hold the leading edge of the wing on one side of the fuselage, and use the other hand to hold the trailing edge of the wing on the other side of the fuselage. Now, with some moderate effort, push / pull on the wing, and if the bands are not holding sufficiently, you will feel the fuselage "slap" the wing. Add as many in the same pattern until the wing and fuselage "stay connected" while performing this operation. I failed to do this, and like you have seen, the fuselage and wing did separate some, with the wing losing alignment at the end of the manuver. This caused the aileron to jam, causing a spiral that I couldn't get out with opposite rudder. Fortunately, I shut down the throttle before it did it's final spiral loop and caught a dirt facebath. I have used the technique since then, and have not suffered any from it. Also, check the bands out every time you refuel, that can catch you by surprise also. Of course, the best mod is putting the nylon screws in, but you may have to find a unique way to make the front of the wing stay latched into the fuselage. It's not that tough. Good luck.

Sounds to me like you need bigger rubber!! Get some Sig #67 bands and see if those bad boys will hold your wing on. Goto Office Depot and get the biggest baddest bands you can find. You could always glue the wing on!!

How much are the rubber bands stretched when you have them on? If its less than double their standard length, they probably aren't providing sufficient tension even with 10 or 12. Try to figure out a way to get them stretched out a bit more or go get some smaller length bands from the office supply store.

Duke

I agree with throttle!! :-) ... We do have to fly them.. In some window..
and understand what could happen when you push it.. But rubberbands
should hold it.. You just have to have enough good ones:-) What's
enough??.. I guess, what it takes for how your flying..
Not sure what you meant by "permanent part" .. You know adding screws
and pegs, should keep it on, and it would be a quick fast fix..
These planes take quite a bit of work at times.. And they hang-in pretty
good

This doesn't make any sense. If the elevator actuates the pull why is only the main wing moving into position. If anything that should be opposite- But that would still be an unlikely scenario. The wing is more likely to shift like (bingo field) stated..

In any case get better rubber bands..

Try this simple test : Do your wide-open throttle vertical dive recovery inverted. You should find the wing stays in place under the inverted fuselage. Then simply roll out.

Is this something you see other people doing? I don't recall seeing any IMAC routines that require WOT vertical dive recoveries. Just wondering.

Dave Olson

Just a simple question:
How many rubber bands are you using and what engine?

Ful/partiall throttle dives? He never said that. He just said dive.

If you're doing intentional dives it might be time for you to move up to a sport plane with a bolt on wing. Sounds lie you're asking a little too much from a trainer. You can still do a lot of fun things with trainers but usually high speed isn't one of them.

depends what trainer, and who's flying, I've seen superstars hover, and torque roll, and do full throttle dives just fine

more rubber bands (the plane above had 20, and they were tight)

Hence the word "usually" in my post.

i will

I can buy that you've seen full throttle dives out of superstars... but torque rolls and hovering, come on.

My guess is that we're not hearing the whole story here.
Enough bands will split a wing in half in a hard dive before it simply seperates from the fuse.
The fuse of that plane prob doesn't weigh more than 3 pounds.
The G forces of that (or any) dive will NOT break 6 bands per side.
So put six #64 bands per side and dive to your hearts content.
The wing might slap back but your not gonna bust em.

I'm a new gas flyer but have been flying electrics for quite awhile. I have been told that the # of rubber bands to use
has to do with weight of plane. 2 rubber bands per pound. I have a hangar 9 arrow that weighs 5 pounds. It says to
use 10 rubber bands and alternate between cris-cros and front to back. It also says that the oily exhaust from engine can
degrade the rubber. Its best if you keep these rubber bands in talcum powder after flying.

Dave...

Perhaps these rubber bands are old or very used and allowing too much strectch in them. Or maybe the wing is smaller than most trainer wings and need shorter rubber bands. But using 14 rubber bands on a 4 lb plane the wing should even move. I suspect the rubber bands arnt tight enough.

Modifing the fus and wings to use 4 screws could work, but a pain to take off.

Perhaps you are ready to start flying a more advance flyer. There is alot of things a trainer can do, but usually they dont do well at them.

i use scotch brand double faced tape ont the fuselage [ wing saddel area] this along w/ 16 # 64 rubber bands works after flight rubber bands removed wing has to be caerfully seperated from fuselage tapes doing its job

Not trying to be smart, But trying to teach you what i have learned.
A) Doing abrupt dives and pulling up will weaken your airframe and break the plane
B)You plane wasnt made for this

I believe you have 4 basic choices.

1. Fly as you are until the rubberbands break, the wing comes off and the plane crashes.[:@]

2. Attach wing with bolts and fly like you do until wing breaks in half and the plane crashes.[:@]

3. Fly in a slightly subdued manner without the dives and stressful pull-outs.[]

4. Get a plane designed for the maneuvers you are flying.

Good luck.

I like the idea of diving and pulling out INVERTED, that should cure all your problems, when the wing either folds or leaves the fuse. Why not fly a trainer as it was designed and get something else that is built to do the wild stuff, it will probably be a lot cheaper. Another thought, very few planes last long pulling out of full speed dives.

LMAO

I pulled out of a high speed dive one time with a trainer (no throttle, just a lot of gravity!) and my two wing tips kissed each other. Shortly thereafter, my plane kissed the ground (very hard!). I learned not to do this anymore. I don't do any abrupt pull-outs from dives with any of my planes! I have a contender that I built from a kit. It has a one piece wing--the spar is continuous, and I won't even do it with that plane, for fear of seeing the wing fold up again. And, Pulling out inverted? An even faster way to fold a wing. Bottom line--don't do this maneuver. Sooner or later you will find out the hard way!
And, putting rubber bands in talcum powder will dry the oil out of them, but why? I can buy a 1/4 pound box for 1.35 at the LHS--is that worth a plane? It's just not worth it to me to reuse them. When I'm done for the day, I take a knife and cut them off, so I'm not tempted to use them again (and, I'm a little lazy!). Then again, I don't fly a plane with rubber bands much anymore.

Since I originally posted this (almost a year ago) I have made a few improvements that allow the plane to be flown as hard and fast as I want. Firstly, I've used strapping tape over the entire wing, before covering. Then I lowered the dowels on the fuselage so the rubber bands have more hold-down strength. I use a minimum of 16 #64 rubber bands and haven't had a problem since! Have fun!