Quick question, I have a Tower Hobbies ARF that I am putting together, however, I messed up when cutting a piece of wood. I went to the hobby shop today to pick up some stock to replace it, but the balsa I got seems to be a lot lighter than the original piece. Are there different types of balsa wood?

Thanks,
-Jim Baldwin

Just like any wood each piece is going to be different. Some balsa is MUCH lighter than another piece...Some is almost as dense as spruce. When building you want the lightest balsa possible because it gives you the most strength for the least weight. That's why we use balsa for thiese airplanes in the first place.

Unless it's a high stress area, which should have spruce or basswood anyway, go with the lightest balsa that you can find. Weight is VERY important and it never hurts to save a little here and there...

The blocks are for the aileron servo mounting. Would that be considered high-stress? I'm thinking, probably not.

Thanks for the reply,
-Jim

If this is the wood that the servo is screwed into, you definitely need something stronger than balsa. Use spruce of basswood for servo mounting. After making the holes for the screws, take them out, and put a few drops of CA into the screw holes. It adds a lot of strength and will prevent stripping the hole...

It's not actually the servo mount. It is the blocks that attach the servo mount to the underside of the wing.