Warped wings, please help!
 

Hello everyone, well im kinda new or "renewed" to the rc airplane hobby. I use to fly a little bit as a kid and for some reason within the past year the i was bit by the bug. Anyway, i decided i wanted to build a kit this winter to keep me busy on my spare time. My girlfriend bought me a Senior Telemaster from Hobby Lobby. Everything as come together great but the trailing edge of my wings. I built the wings on a board and even noticed that both of my trailing edge pieces were warped downward at each end. I just pinned it down like usual thinking that the rest of the wing would straighten it out when all of the glue dried, well i was wrong. The wole wing is staight execpt for my trailing edges, and now that im at the point where i need to sand the wing to accomidate my ailerons and im finding that its not possible. Is there anyway to get rid of this warp? Should i cut the trailing edge off and try to reglue it? or can i fix it by covering the top of the wing first and pulling the warp out with the covering. Please Help! Thanks, Jared

RE: Warped wings, please help!
 

depends on how bad the warp is,i would cut it off and make a new piece that is straight and glue it on.if it is very slight you might cover the top and pull it back but it would most likely just come back

RE: Warped wings, please help!
 

Does the wing have shear webs between the top and bottom spars? If not, I have fixed this problem in the past by holding the wing and twisting it the warp out and then having a buddy super glue a shear web across the spars between several of the ribs and the twist will not/can not come back. This also makes the wing virtually twist proof from then on. The web is made from 1/16" balsa as wide as a bay and the grain running from spar to spar. Good luck.

RE: Warped wings, please help!
 

Back in the old days, we would put twice the warp in the opposite direction, then wet or steam the wood, Let dry, check it, and redo again if needed.

Larry

RE: Warped wings, please help!
 

Manion 30 speaks truth.

I too had severe warp but caused by the dope shrinking too much.
I removed the silk, soaked the panel with water, laid a heavy object on the
panel to flatten it, and let dry in the sun. If that doesn't do it, start over.

Kraus

RE: Warped wings, please help!
 

It worked! Well after looking at the wings for literally and hour, i figured i could set it on a really stable flat surface (my kitchen floor) and put weight on it to straighten it out. The plans only called for sheer webs from ribs 1-8 and i noticed that most of the warp was from there on, so i simply bought some more 3/32 balsa sheet and added sheer webs the entire length of the wing. I also added balsa supports between the ribs on the trailing edge of the wing. I let the epoxy dry and presto, the wing was straight as and arrow and twice as strong, it worked! Thanks for all of the input guys, Jared

RE: Warped wings, please help!
 

Glad to hear that you were successful. I love shear webs as they hardly add any weight and make the wing very rigid.