Alright.. I just mounted the wings on my elder and went to see how my elevator was going to line up.. its off by about a quarter inch.. this was the first piece of the kit I built and this is my first kit. I laid it back on the plans and it is a little small but not off by a quarter inch.. My wing is equal lengths from the tip to the tail and the same length from the fuse to the wing tips.. im considering rebuilding the elevator now that I know how to build What should I do??

Perhaps you could be more descriptive of what you mean by "off by a quarter inch." Perhaps a picture, also.

When place my horizontal stab on the fuse and eyeball it into the correct place, I must move it a quarter inch to the left, making there be more stab on the left side.. will having more than hal fof the stab on one side than the other affect flight?

If i understand your problem you have mounted the wings fist & you're measuring distances between the "extremities" of wing-stab to line up the stab?

If that's the case you should be mounting the stab fist & align/ mount the wing afterwards.

Hope this helps

If you make certain the wing is centered and straight with the fuse, you will have no problem in mounting the wing first. What Kit is this? Bolt on wing or Rubber banded? A picture or even a MS "Paint" sketch would help ailot in identifying the problem.

Im at work right now so I cant get you a pic I love getting paid to sit here on rcuniverse!! but guitar has the right idea of my prob. I have the wing bolted on dead center as instructions stated.. and I want to know how much my stab can be misaligned and still fly right. Im building the elder 40 kit from top flite.. as stated this is my first kit and the stab was the first thing i built, so it was a learning process. I am confident I can easily rebuild the stab if needed.

If you mount the fin on the fuselage's centerline it causes one side of the stab to extend beyond the fuselage by a 1/4 inch more than the other,,, right? If so I wouldn't worry about it. You're not going to notice anything aerodynamically and looks wise you're the only one that'll ever notice it.

Sounds like you're getting close to the maiden flight on your Elder. Mine has been sitting in limbo for the last month or so but the "bug" has been biting at me lately. Might wrap it up by end of March.

Don.. Those were the exact words I wanted to hear!! Its been tough the last couple months with the tedious fuse braces in the back and bending the balsa on the nose but it looks like an airplane now and im itchin to get her done.. you have been a great help and I couldnt have got this far without the help of you and everyone here on rcuniverse.. Thanks

If I am understanding right, If you haven't already covered the stab you could easily glue on an extra 1/4" piece of balsa to the "short" side the same thickness as the stab and sand it to shape. Actaully, it wouldn't be that much harder to do if you have covered it. Another thought, couldn't you mount the stab shifted over by 1/8" which will make up a total of 1/4" overall. I wouldn't imagine being shifted 1/8" wouldn't be noticable either.