Alpha 40 Bolt on wing ?
 

Hey I just bought a Alpha 40 trainner 2 weeks ago , and today I broke 5 rubber bands on my fight today, I was practicing my barrel rolls and inverted flight, when I broke them, I know this is not the plane to be doing this on, but this is only my first week of flying ever, and I never thought i would out grow the plane so quicky, My ? is the guy at the field said to bolt the wings on, but im not really sure on how to do this, remember I only been at this flying thing for a week so really dont know what to buy, also till i can get the wings bolted on what size bands do I use 64's maybe?

RE: Alpha 40 Bolt on wing ?
 

I've flown mine pretty hard for four years and never broke a rubber band. I usually use the ones from Staples that I get in a big bag, and I usually don't re-use them. I think they are #64. I generally use 5 on each side and then two diagonal.

Bolt-on wings are nice, and I always say I'm gonna make the modification, but I never have gotten around to it.

Good luck

RE: Alpha 40 Bolt on wing ?
 

If you're breaking rubber bands then you more than likely don't have enough of them on the plane. On a 40 sized trainer you should have at least 12 rubber bands on it. If you have fewer bands than that then the wing will lift and seperate from the fuselage in high-g manuevers, and this will cause the bands to break.

Ken

RE: Alpha 40 Bolt on wing ?
 

I was running 14 bands with 3 x's the first 2 bands where in an x pattern than in the middle and at the end, and still broke five bands, I almost lost the plane but I have know Idea hoe I saved it

RE: Alpha 40 Bolt on wing ?
 

If you broke 5 bands I got to believe you where using old, bad or wrong bands get a new box of #64 rubber bands and use 2 per pound of airplane weight crossing the last 2 bands and you will not have a problem. Bolt on wings are nice but without a lot of experience your likely asking for problems, it is a high stress area and if not done properly your looking for an ugly failure.

RE: Alpha 40 Bolt on wing ?
 

Thanks for the help and yeah the bands when about 5 flights old, I put them in baby power when done using them, that what the book
told me to do

RE: Alpha 40 Bolt on wing ?
 

I agree with tripower222. When I'm training anybody I recommend simply tossing the rubber bands at the end of each session and start with a fresh set each day. Rubber bands are cheap, and certainly aren't worth losing your plane over just to save a few pennies by getting extra days out of the bands.

Ken

RE: Alpha 40 Bolt on wing ?
 

Ken and I rarely disagree, but I re-use rubber bands all the time - as long as they are in good shape!

That said, sounds like the bands you had were bad, or the wrong size.

Get some new ones as the others have suggested.

As for going to a bolt-on option, while it sounds good, unless the wing and fuse were built for a bolt-on wing, it will be a major undertaking to make this modification after they were built.

Besides, if you've advanced that far so quickly, you might consider building a more advanced plane rather than spend all that work on a trainer. Take a look at the Wingman II from The Wingsmaker. It's a very nice intermediate plane at a very modest price.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...rticle_id=1086

http://www.thewingsmaker.com/airplan...p?name=Wingman II (GP)