Hey Guys, I've got my Solo Sport flying around but have noticed I have to give the right aileron more trim then the left....a lot more. I can still level her out fine but figure some thing is wrong. I balanced her with just a little nose down which works fine but should I have balanced her the other way? May be I have a one wing heavier then the other, I'm not sure but is that called lateral balance....there wasn't anything in the manual about that. Just the normal balance points on the wings and none on the body.

For the last several years I have balanced all types of airplanes in a cradle. The cradle allows keeping the airplane close to the floor and also checking the lateral balance at the same time.

Likely you have something other than lateral balance either bent or out of true.

Bill

You may have some left thrust on the engine, or a warped wing. Sight the wings fom the back and see if they look the same. Quickly check lateral balance by picking it up by the prop or prop shaft while the rear rests on the tailwheel or the rudder bottom.

What made you think one aileron needed more trim than the other?

And have you asked an experienced modeler to look at the airplane for you?

I'll a lateral balance tonight and then move the ailerons back to what would seem as normal, then fly her again and see what happens. I'm hoping it's just the lateral balance but if some thing else is out of wack then I'll have to do more checking, I'll check that tonight too.
I'm guessing both ailerons would be out instead of just one....my goof.

My instructor showed me how to balance both ways. Because I had installed an optional flap servo we had to put a little weight in the other wing tip. just drilled a small hole and epoxyed a fishing weight in.

this is what trim is for, so you don't have to hold constant stick pressure. before I checked balance I'd recheck that the ailerons were faired at neutral.

I did some checking last night and found that the fuselage a lone balanced right so I checked the wing and that has some issues for sure. The left side of the wing is a lot heavier with no doubt. The one thing about this Solo Sport which I don't like is the covering, it's got the graphic design work printed right into the covering so repairs can be tough. Not to mention the covering is always coming loose and won't stay tight! The graphics look great but the slack covering won't do it for me, so I might just strip the wing and cover it with better stuff and take care of the balance problem too.

Great idea.
You'll also get a good look at the workmanship inside. That gives you a good idea whether or not to purchase anymore kits from that manufacturer. We opened up one such wing (printed shelfpaper covering) and discovered that all the ribs were some kind of hardwood and TWO were sandwiched for the tips. That wood was stronger and heavier than 7ply plywood and they had TWO for the wingtip. Guess that tip was going to be strong for sure. And the wing had what looked like balsa spars. And was about an ounce out of balance.

BTW, if you do open up a wing and it's out of balance, look at the ribs. Any very heavy ones on the heavy span can have holes cut out. Better to remove weight than to add it. Dremel burrs work good for the job.

Oh yeah, that shelfpaper usually pulls right off.

Shelf Paper?! ROFL! That say's it all....I called H9 to see if I could get some of that shelf paper and they said they don't carry that. So much for the value in the cheaper plane! I left at lunch and bought various colors to recover the wing anyway. So far I'm not impressed with this Solo Sport but for $79 what do you expect. I should have payed another $35 for the Alpha 40 fuselage and wing....oh well, you live and learn. I think taking all the covering off this plane will be a good idea and then the plane will be a lot better. Besides it's very difficult to see even up close when your flying around, I can change that.

I got the covering off the wing last night and aside from loose and broken ribs and one small area on the trailing edge broken away I couldn't see why the left wing is so much heavier. I fixed all the factory screw ups and took the cheezy thin plastic wing tips off since I warped one to the point of no return while trying to shrink the shelf paper covering....oops! I'm leaving the wing ends flat and just cover them also...I figure I don't need the added weight anyway. I'll put the new covering on some time soon just after I decide what colors and design I want, probably will be some thing close to what was there but more color so I can see the plane better when flying. I did manage to get some colors that match close enough so the wing will look better then the fuselage and tail feathers since I'm leaving them a lone for now. I really like the covering part of this hobby...it's so cool to see it come to life!

No fooling. Ain't it awesome to see the "paint scheme" come together.

BTW, a hint for someone who probably will appreciate it............................
Auto parts places sell "pin striping" tape. Thirty feet of 1/8" is about $5. The very thin stuff is the best. It greatly enhances color separations and often turns a good scheme into a knockout one.

It's thinner than the covering film and it doesn't need to be ironed on. Some of it bonds in sunlight. All of it that I've used has been as fuelproof as the covering.

The impact it makes depends on the colors being separated and it's color. So sometimes it's just a subtle detail. And as luck would have it, I don't have a good closeup of where it's really standing out. But I do have a picture that compares how two colors look with and without it. Look at how the yellow/black on the wing looks compared to how they look on the tail. That's shown on the Sukhoi. And keep in mind that white striping usually doesn't stand out unless it's wider, and black often looks better if it's not wide. Now look at the fin/rudder of the highwing and compare it's black striping to the same plane's stab/elevator.

da Rock! I can't believe what your telling me...it's scary! I just got back from the LHS and he was out of black pin stripe. I needed some more covering which I got but no pin stripe...then I decided to see what's going on in the posts and you tell me that! Yahoo!!! Never would have thought of that...I live real close to an AutoZone, guess I know where I'm going on the way home from work..LOL! Thanks!

Hey guys, got the wing all balanced and recovered and took her out Saturday morning and the plane flew straight and level with all trims in neutral! I fixed that easy enough but then my Magnum 61 locked up from a bad cam bearing or me running the engine too lean. Anyway, the plane flew great and I'm very happy with that. I see a new engine on the horizon...yahoo!

I'm not familiar with THAT engine but I don't see how a lean run would damage a cam bearing. Most "lean" damage occurs within the cylinder/piston.

Magnum 61's got valves? Thought they were two-strokes? You mean the crankshaft bearing? Even then, not from a lean run. From storing nose down and unburned fuel removing the bearing grease maybe.

Sorry Charlie. (Couldn't resist that one)
http://media.hobbypeople.net/manual/210985.pdf but it's a 4 stroke.

the magnum 61 four stroke was pulled out of production quite awhile back because of lack of performance and other issues that I'm not sure about. My cam bearing went bad from lack of oil (my fault) and when the bearing fell apart that's what went threw the whole engine and tore it up. It all rests on operator error....[X(] To fix this problem is very easy....I'm sending the engine to Magnum to have it rebuilt so I'll have another engine besides the Saito 62 four stroke I bought yesterday!

Can't have enough engines can you? LOL!