ENGINE MOUNTING{SIDEWAYS} Newbe needs help.
 

Im new to this hobby and building on second plane {ULTRA STICK 40}the instructoins call to mount engine side ways W/glow plug to right. Ive seen this method on many planes at the field i fly at. What i dont understand is there is an "out of balance condition" with it mounted that way, the jug sticks out witch would make the plane spinn to right, where as upright all the down force is pushing straight down. Mount is centerd straight no offset to counter react this. what keeps this plane from turning to the right when flying? It seems to me you would have to add 3or 4 ozs to left wing to balance. I was wondering because I saw a plane crash this mourning w/ engine jug mounted to right. Guess What? he built up speed tail lifted plane spun to right demolished plane. Ive never flew a plane with an engine jug mounted sideways before . Is flying a plane set up this way a trick or was it other problems with his plane? Please explain this to me so i will fly this plane. Im real nervious about this. Keep in mind im new & might not get it at first. I figured this was best place to find out. :confused:

ENGINE MOUNTING{SIDEWAYS} Newbe needs help.
 

The short answer to your question is, yes, a sideways mounted engine will cause a slight lateral imbalance in the plane. This imbalance should be corrected by adding weight to the opposite wing. But you have to laterally balance any plane, whether it has a side or upright mounted engine.

The additional amount of weight needed to offset the side mounted engine is not as much as you would think. The distance that the engine CG is offset from the thrustline is many times less than the distance from the counterweights on the wingtips to the thrustline.

Even if the plane was slight imbalanced, I doubt it caused your friend's plane to crash. You can use aileron trim to temporarily counteract a lateral imbalance.

To summarize, don't worry about it. Side mount the engine and laterally balance your plane when you're done.

ENGINE MOUNTING{SIDEWAYS} Newbe needs help.
 

Even if you don't add weight to the left wing the plane will still fly fine. It won't track as well in loops etc. though.

Even when an engine is mounted straight up the muffler sticks out to one side causing a slight imbalance.

ENGINE MOUNTING{SIDEWAYS} Newbe needs help.
 

A full tank of fuel mounted on the other side counter balances the weight difference. And /or the battery pack. You can see lots of these planes in the (profile and funfly section of the forum).

ENGINE MOUNTING{SIDEWAYS} Newbe needs help.
 

It might be possible for an expert flyer to notice the imbalance if the rest of the model was absolutely perfect with regards to straightness, symmetry, lateral balance with engine removed etc but for ordinary mortals...just put it in sideways and go fly :D

ENGINE MOUNTING{SIDEWAYS} Newbe needs help.
 

This guys dad is Max Blose and Doug Davis is his brother! He loves both of them with all his heart!

ENGINE MOUNTING{SIDEWAYS} Newbe needs help.
 

:confused:

Hello All,

In post #7 A profile was mentioned. On (in) the Morris model
Top Cap and Knife one of two ways to mount the tank is in the wing. The lines come out the right leading edge, so is the tank
actually ON the right side, or do they cross over? If it is on the
right side, it seems there would be somewhat of a serious
latteral balance problem?! Does anybody know of this?

Thanks!!
Steve