Hi all
Have you ever had any problems with your wing-to fuselage joint?

I mean, a 22 lb jet, where the wing tubes are discontinued in the mid section where the stress level is at highest, and only held by one screw in the end.

As I see it, the risk of wing flutter, or breaking of tubes seems close.

I have seen that one you has maked a wood doubler at the fuselage sides, for better support of the tubes, but what are your experiences during flight, and after 50 assemblies??

by the way, here is my Super Reaper Special Edition, almost ready for glass-covering:

Propellars,
I've got fifteen flights on my Reaper so far with no problems. Mine weighs 171/4 pounds dry which equates to about 21 pounds at takeoff. I've got retracts and when I fly, it's mostly full throttle and lots of high-G manuevers. With the retracts and my MW54, I would guess the top end at around 130 m.p.h. When I first saw the wing set-up, I too was a little skeptical. But I built it stock witth no modifications there. As far as flutter goes, if the wing comes loose enough to flutter then you're probably way out of luck anyway. Incidently, when i built mine, I elliminated all the counterbalances on the control surfaces with no ill effects. My control surfaces look "normal"!

Regards,


John

Ive had no trouble either with the wing joints. The single large screw is not uncommon to hold on even up to >30 pound aerobatic planes. The wing tube is taking the loads and the screw would have to strip or break and/or the ply mounting crutch would have to snap off to allow the wing to let go. Not likely! Try pulling a 6mm screw out of a threded Tnut or coupler some time, it is well over a thousand pounds force.

I also bash my reaper (split S's and inverted, regular loops) around and it has developed no play in the wing mounting area.

AJC

Thanks both, I'll try to resist to make changement to the mounting.