I hope ths is not a dumb question, but I purchased a used nexstar 46. it looks brand new. My friend who has experience could not control the plane in the air and almost lost it. I noticed the wings are not balanced, If i put my fingers in the center of the wing(of course when they are not on the plane) they always lean to the the right big time.

Why would the wingbe un balanced? or does it even matter.

I hope some can elp

Thank you very much

Matters a great deal, but not usually to the point of a major control issue. More in roll rate to one side vs. the other and trim settings. Usually caused by differences in wood density or the amount of glue applied.

Balance the model with the wings in place by either hanging it from string around the prop shaft and to either a pin in the trailing edge near the centerline of the rudder or looped under the tail wheel (if so equipped). If one wing always dips first add weight to the high wing tip. Washers or lead shot set in epoxy (after opening the outermost wing panel or tip covering.

If you don't want to cut the covering you can wrap electrical tape around an aileron servo with as many Lincoln cents as needed. You'll need more weight than if added at the wing tip.

No question is the dumb question! Yes it matters about lateral balance same as CG. Put the wing on the plane, turn the prop so there is no pressure, now lift the plane buy the nosecone, and the tip of the tail (vertical stab). Now if the plane teeters either way when lifted thats fine. If it always goes to one side, that side is the heavy side. At this point you have two options, either add wheight to the light side, or remove weight from the heavy side. Most prefer to add. I personally like to subtract. Hope this helps.

Bob

You may grab the spinner with the prop turned "off compression" and have someone else hold the tail up with one finger underneath. The heavy side will drop. As the previous poster said lay pennies or washers on the "up" wing until the plane levels.

Just a note: If the plane was uncontrollable, I would be more concerned with checking the CG. Tail heavy planes are nearly impossible to control. The Nexstar is a high wing plane, so you will balance by holding the plane up by
putting a finger of each hand under each wing in the same place about 4 or 5" away from the fuselage.

Reach under the wing and feel for the spar. Should be back about 3 or 4 " from the leading edge. Check manufacturer
specs for exact distance back from the leading edge that the plane should balance. Do this with an empty fuel tand, but everything else in place, servo's, battery, etc.

Most planes fly ok if the plane is slightly nose heavy using the first spar or just a little behind it.

Check factory specs. High wing planes balance from underneath the wing. Low wing planes balance upside down on the top of the wing.

Also, check the aileron control surfaces to make sure the are set the same. You can't have one aileron partially up and the other down when the aileron and aileron trim on the transmitter is centered.

Good luck. You can find the CG specs online at the retailers website.

I doubt it is because the wing is heavy on one side. In what way was the plane uncontrolable, was it trying to turn one way, or stalling when it shouldn't be?

I hope you fix the problem, Good luck and happy flying

It matters if the AIRPLANE is unbalanced. But not usually does it matter a lot.

An almost uncontrollable flight is usually a problem with the CG location fore and aft. A tailheavy airplane is often very hard to control.

Check the airplane assembled for front-to-back CG location. Get that right, then check the assembled airplane for left-right balance. Balancing just the wing might do almost nothing if the fuselage is the problem. Mufflers almost always stick out one side or the other. Engines are often mounted at 9o'clock. etc

Why would a wing be heavier on one side? Where was it made? They don't have any experience flying them, just making them when they're not making toys. They have little chance of knowing about wood selection or the other finer points of building models.

Thank you very, very,very much all of you. CG is good, I think i will check how many ounces they are off and post and try again.

also if there not removed take the droops and flaps off before you balance the wing,has the wing been repaired?if so what part.
another way to balance the wing when you dont have any help if you have a hook in the ceiling then some fishing line or string the front of the engine, then lift the tail,then add your weight to the light side until you balance, you then can use stick on weights or what I like to do is glue the weight to the inside of the tip where it won't be seen and do the most good with the least amount of weight needed.
there have been quite a few posts on NEXTAR wings not balanced,I guess I am lucky I have repaired mine a couple of times and the plane is still close in lateral balance,not enough to worry about for sure.

When you get around to learning how to do loops and such with your trainer plane, an out of balance wing can make a big difference. Even when you get out of shape and pull out of a dive and it rolls out when you give up elev. could be an out of balance wing. If a wing is out of balance by 1 oz., then you do a 10G pullout, that 1 oz suddenly becomes 10 oz. Turn the wing upside down and prop it up at the centre . Put enough stick on weights on the bottom tip to balance it. On some planes, for a more permanent setup find some nails about 4 in. long. Drill a hole the size of the nail and glue in enough nails to balance it. I put together a Sig Cap 231EX and one ail weighed twice as much as the other. It was so far out I had to build another aileron to match, although this is an extreme.

Have you checked that the wings are not warped? And that the wing is mounted squarely to the fuselage so that each wingtip is the same distance from the tip of the rudder?
Lateral balance would have nearly nothing to do with the handling of the plane, unless there were many ounces of difference, not grams.

A lateral unbalance will bother you more at lower speeds than at higher speeds, especially if you get near the stall speed. Then with little forward motion, gravity will take over and tilt toward the heavy side. This will make control more difficult than it needs to be. [X(]

I think that Bad Daddy suggestion has the highest probability of stating the cause of the problem, wing warp. Check very carefully to be sure one wing does not have a higher angle of attack than the other. It is highly unlikely that the wings would be so unbalanced in weight as to cause as severe a problem as you refered to.

I would check servo throws to make sure you are getting equal deflection on both ailerons. Also check radio to see if one side is coupled to high rate and one on low if it has two servos. This is a used plane and you don't know if the first owner set it up properly. Or if a single servo are the control rods set equal distance from the center point of the servo and is the servo centered when the trim is centered. Is there and end point adjustment on the radio that is preventing the servo from rotating equally left and right? Hope this helps and good luck.