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how to resize ailerons and shaping
Building a mid-star 40 which came with 1/4" x 1"x 30" leading edge (LE) shaped ailerons. I plan to enlarge them to 1 1/4". I was given some 3/8" x 1.5" tapered aileron stock.
My first thought was to just trim 1/4" off the LE. The problem is that at that location the stock will still be in excess of the 1/4" This is my first kit and not sure how best to proceed. Also any tricks on how to get that nice LE radius and once radiused any trick to locating center to install hinges? |
RE: how to resize ailerons and shaping
You can get 2 lengths of music wire - 1 the diameter of the TE of the wing that will contact the LE of the aileron - the other the diameter of the desired thickness of the TE of the finished aileron.
Put these down on a flat surface with the aileron stock between them. Hold all three in place (I use clamps on each end) then sand the top of the aileron stock down to the tops of the music wire. I use an electric sander with 80 grit sand paper but you can do it just with a hand held sanding block. Just before it hits the top of the music wire switch to 180 grit. When done sizing the aileron stock mark and cut the hinge slots/holes before shaping the LE of the aileron. This way it's much easier to find the center of the aileron LE. I have a sanding block I made on a table saw out of a piece of pine 2" square X 12" long with a V cut into it at a 45 degree angle. This is what I use to shape the LE. You can do it at less of an angle and you can do it by hand if your careful and take yer time. Hope this helps ya out. |
RE: how to resize ailerons and shaping
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ORIGINAL: mikegordon10 You can get 2 lengths of music wire - 1 the diameter of the TE of the wing that will contact the LE of the aileron - the other the diameter of the desired thickness of the TE of the finished aileron. Put these down on a flat surface with the aileron stock between them. Hold all three in place (I use clamps on each end) then sand the top of the aileron stock down to the tops of the music wire. I use an electric sander with 80 grit sand paper but you can do it just with a hand held sanding block. Just before it hits the top of the music wire switch to 180 grit. When done sizing the aileron stock mark and cut the hinge slots/holes before shaping the LE of the aileron. This way it's much easier to find the center of the aileron LE. I have a sanding block I made on a table saw out of a piece of pine 2'' square X 12'' long with a V cut into it at a 45 degree angle. This is what I use to shape the LE. You can do it at less of an angle and you can do it by hand if your careful and take yer time. Hope this helps ya out. I enlarged the ailerons on my midstar to 2" tapered to 1.5 at the tips. I used 2 servos instead of one. She was A LOT more fun with the larger aileron!!! Yes lots of neon, this was from my earlier days of flying. Neon calmed me down. I powered the midstar with a supertiger g61. It was CRAZY!!! I loved this plane. I bet she got 1000+ flights |
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