My newest airplane, a Sig Bonanza, called for 1/4 inch up or down on the airlerons. Sounds like a pretty small travel , doesn't it ? Turns out it was too much !!!

I never exceed the instruction book recommended throws. At least not at first. Once I have a feel for an airplane, then I start adjusting it to my preferences. And most of the time, (and the older I get), the more I actually reduce my throws below the recommended throws.

So , I would be leery of guessing. At least someone, somewhere flew the model with the throws listed in the instructions.

As for throw meters ? They are a fairly new product. I've never used one. I've never seen a kit that recommended throws in terms of degrees. So, I can't comment.

"I have one friend that pulls the price sticker off his new props and calls them ballanced." - heh... sweet. I'll add to that... I have friends that runway balance their props by lifting the tail of their tail draggers until the prop grinds down to nice an even shape.

Missile, not sure if the trim stuff was in response to my "small movement = big change" example. If it was, I wasn't implicating that you need a meter to set trims. Trims are set in flight, and if you measured everything right, you should need no trim. I was just trying to make the point that a very small error can have a major impact, hence a justification for accurately measuring surface movements.

As for using same holes, etc. In theory, you are correct. With a perfect plane, perfect servos setup, perfect linkages, horns, ames, etc., etc., you would get dual surfaces to match, but this never happens, which is why we have tools to measure and adjust the accuracy of the throw.

Y’s, yeah they would cause a problem… that is another reasons why I believe they should never be used.

Pilot, ¼” means nothing unless we know the size of the plane. Throw meters are not new. Been around for decades. I don’t kit build much (I tend to design and fly), but the last several kits I had mentioned the throw in degrees only. Granted, many beginner/sport kits don’t do this. But if they did, you’d find that almost every plane, regardless of scale, uses similar throws in degrees to get a similar flight response.

I work on A-10's and all of our rigging/travel fixtures for the ailerons, rudders, and elevators are in degrees. I think it would be better to just have all ARF's come with degrees in the instructions instead of inches.