Hello to all,

I'm currently in the process of finishing my CA Eclipse, and need an advice with respect to retaining the wings to the fuselage (model has wing tube and 2 wings halves). I understand most people put 2 "butterfly"-type bolts per wing half, I'd like to go with only one nylon screw and bolt. Would this work? Any experience?

Regards,
-Fabrizio

Fabrizio:

I have two CA Eclipse, one with more than 150 flying hours and the other ready for his Maiden Flight. In both I used the original system provided by CAModels to retain the wings to the fuselage, i.e., wing tube and one butterfly bolt per wing.
For the Fantasy and the Eclipse is the same. It’s not necessary to put or use anything else.
My brother used the same for his Eclipse and every thing is OK after one year of continuous flights.

Best Regards,

Thank you very much, I was concerned that it isn't sufficient, but apparently it is.
Regards,
-Fabrizio

Fabrizio, I had done some testing on plastic bolts some time back, taking the bolts to failure. A single 1/4" plastic bolt fails at approximately 130 lbs force. A wing panel will practically never place that kind of load on its mounting bolt so yo will be safe. I use smaller nylon bolts to secure my panels to the fuse and have experienced no problems

MattK

My 35% edge uses only one wing bolt per wing......though there metal...........I plan to only use the one wing bolt in my Eclipse as well.

Sweetpea, the steel bolt is at least 100 times stronger than the wood it is screwed into

The nylon bolt should work fine. Considering what a wing panel for a 35% weighs, maybe 3 lbs at most, the wing would have to experience upwards of 50 g's spanwise, to approach the bolt's failure point. Even a blender done at full bore wouldn't generate that kind of accel on a panel in the span direction

MattK

Gee, I use 3 #64 rubber bands to hold the wings on in my Cyclone 2m. I don't think there are any flight loads axial to the spar that would try to seperate the wings , except for centrifugal loading while rolling. Am I mistaken on this?

steve

Steve, No you are not mistaken. The amount of spanwise acceleration on a wing panel is nil for most any maneuver we fly, excepting a snap or extremely fast regular roll. Maneuvers such as blenders can place considerable outward acceleration on a wing but only at the moment the model transitions from the fast roll to the inverted spin.

Having said that, I have heard pops come from models that had wings secured with rubber bands, as the wings separated a little and were slammed back against the fuz. Point is rubber bands stretch... Duh!! In a pattern model where extreme maneuvers are practically never done, rubber bands work fine.

I am working on a method where the wings will lock automatically when inserted, similar to a door latch, because I am inherently lazy about fishing the acorn nuts I use to secure the panels. Also, nothing to lose

MattK