Hey Everybody,
I'm about ready ready to pull my hair out trying to figure out why my 330 keeps blowing the dam- covering off. I've checked the wing for internal damage, sealed down every edge, done everything I can think of. Does anybody know something unusual that would cause this problem. This is getting really expensive! I've had models do this before, but this plane does it seemingly without cause. I thought somebody may have stumbled onto this before. Any help you could provide would be much appreciated!

Is it a dark covering that gets heated by the sun? I had a wing with dark covering that puffed up from trapped air being heated between the ribs. Now I always put a small vent hole in each rib so the wing can breathe out thru the servo holes. Sounds weird, but it solved my problem!

Hi Volture,
I do have the vent holes in the ribs. The wing is foam rib built-up, and before I covered it I took a rod and heated it and ran it through each rib. This plane only does it on the right wing, and just started doing it. I flew it all last season and it didn't do it. It's done it the last 3 times out. I've recovered it twice now. This is definately gonna be something weird. I hope I get to the bottom of it, because I've talked to 3 other people who have had the same thing happen and have sworn up and down there were no edges up and when I told them all the normal things they told me "already done". I think one of the guys ended upo seeling the plane he got so fed up with it. I definately can't afford to that right now. I just got this plane flying right. It takes forever to set one of these birds up and get them all dialed in.

How big are the vent holes in the wing? How does it vent to the outside? I'm assuming it goes into the fuselage, but how does the fuselage vent?

I'm guessing the problem you're having is simply because iron-on coverings are pretty much crap.

Hi,
Vent holes are probably around 3/16" in each rib. Burned them through with a 1/8" rod that was heated. They vent into the fuse through the servo lead hole. Fuse has plenty of leaks that will allow it to vent. Canopy hatch cover, rudder cable exits, servo cutouts, etc... The weird part is it's only the right wing that does it. I keep thinking that since it's only on that wing, it's trying to tell me something, but I just can't find it.

It is possible that those holes just aren't large enough to pass enough air. I really don't know enough about flow rates, etc. to talk about it intelligently.

Another possibility is that the plane wasn't vacuumed very well before covering. If you could see the adhesive side of the covering what you might see is a bunch of dust adhered to the covering. If that's the case it will never stay down well and would need to be replaced.