I busted the original wing on my aerobird and replaced it with correct hobbyzone replacement wing. Now it seems like the replacement wing won't produce enough lift to take off...the plane wants to dive into the ground. I put the old wing on (plus a considerable amount of tape) and the plane took off fine. Both wings look exactly the same. Any ideas what the trouble could be?
Assuming you are not installing it backwards and/or upsidedown here are some basic things to check:
Put the wings on a flat surface and look for any warpage.
Examine the new wing very closely. Is it pushing on the motor mount differently?
Does the new wing weigh a lot more for some bizzare reason?
Anyway, if the wing is straight and isn't messing with the thrust line of the motor when it is installed, you might want to shim up the leading edge a bit by stuffing some cardboard or whatever under the front of the wing.
I have the AB and the same thing happened to me. I agree with the last poster...shim the leading edge with something like the broken tip of a clothespin to produce more lift...it does work. Also, check your motor mount too. If you've crashed hard nose first it may have cause the motor to be pulled out of line changing your thrust angle. I used a simple zip tie to retain the motor in its proper place. Good luck.
Thanks for the info. What is the best way to check the motor thrust angle? Mine seems to be coming straight out of the motor housing and is angled slightly upward.
That could well be your problem - the motor should be tilted down and right about 4 degrees ...
Not on a pusher. Up and slightly left if necessary.
You're absolutely right - I was thinking conventional. :*)
I tried lifting the front edge of the wing by shimming it up in front. The plane flys now but not well....still does not want to lift up and I have to pull back all the way on the stick just to get it up in the air. Could it just be a bad wing?
The wings are like $10 so it wouldn't suprise me if there were some variances. Is the wing straight? How much did you shim it? I'd probably shim it up some more and see what happens.
If you crashed when you damaged the wing you might want to check to see if the tailboom came out of its holder in the fuse. If it did this will tilt the tail up and cause the plane to dive. There are other posts that explain how to fix this and make sure it doesn't happen again. (aejar? has posts on this)
I moved the wing forward about 10mm to rest on the fuselage out of the indent for the wing to sit in, it was just right to get my Firebird soaring!!!
good job. mk
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