I've seen a number of people mention that they have converted their rubber band wings to bolt-on wings. I would love to do so that I can stop retrimming the model every time I put it together and because I think it just looks a whole lot cleaner.
I think I can handle the part inside the plane but I'm looking for a little advice on how/where to properly put the bolts through the wing. Should I just add a layer of balsa (or ply?) at the front and back of the center sheeted section of the wing and drill through it? Should I make sure to catch the flat trailing edge in the back? So I wand to try to go through the rounded leading endge in the front (seems like it would really weaken it)? Or do I just go through the sheeting a little bit away from each edge?
Any advice (or pics!) would be greatly appreciated.
Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:
Converting it over is not hard.
Measure about 2" on each side from the centerline of the wing and in the center of the leading edge and drill a 1/4" hole. Your dowel length should be about 1 1/2" - 2" long. Glue the dowels in each hole leaving about 1/2" extending from the front of the leading edge. Take a pencil and blacken the tip of each dowel.
Now CAREFULLY line the wing up on the fuselage and press it forward to make a mark on the header piece that is there. These are your marks for drilling the holes the dowels go into. Now you can round the tips of the dowels so they will go in the holes.
For the bolt section/part. Insert the wing into the dowel holes and mark the outline of the fuselage on the underside of the wing. On the underside of the wing mark an area about 1/2" in from the fuselage side and about 2" forward from the rear of the wing. Mark this area on the fuselage also. CAREFULLY cut through the covering and sheeting on the underside of the wing. The opening should be about 1 1/2" wide and 1/2" from the side of the fuselage. In this area you want to glue in some SHAPED scrap balsa for strength. Now you can replace the carefully removed sheeting and covering.
Cut a piece of 1/4" plywood the width of the fuselage and about 1
1/2" wide. Trim/sand as needed to fit the fuselage and glue in place. When you glue it in place, make sure it is going to line up with the balsa scrap you glued inside the wing.
When everything is dry, mark the location of the balsa scrap on the top of the wing. Now insert the wing in the dowel holes and hold the wing down in position and proceed to drill a hole about 1/2 way between the center of the wing and the edge of the fuselage. Drill all the way through the plywood. I suggest a tap and die set for this. The common size for nylon wing bolts is 1/4" x either 20 or 28 thread (make sure you get the correct tap/die set.
Remove the wing and enlarge the holes in the wing ONLY to 9/32". Now take your tap and tap the holes in the plywood. After you have tapped them, put thin CA in the holes in the plywood, and after it has dried, run the tap through them again.
Hmm, sure sounds like it's going to be a bit of work on an ARF wing that's already built (on a $38 plane no less...). Should I ever get up the nerve to build my own wing I will certainly give it a try though.
Just epoxy some hardwood blocks to the inside corners of the wing saddle area and drill through the wing and blocks. Tap the blocks to 1/4x20 and use nylon bolts to secure the wing. Add a plywood plate to the top of the wing where the bolts pass through.
Here's mine (not pretty but effective, easy and cheap):
If this is too much work, there is another solution.
Install the wing properly centered and measure the tip to tip distance between the wing and horizontal stabilizor on both sides. Make it the same for both and go fly and trim your plane.
Land and CAREFULLY clean the wing/fuselage area in front and back of the wing.
With a permanent marker put 2 marks that cross the fuselage and wing on the front of the wing and on the back of the wing. These become installation guides for future flights so use a good permanent marker. By good, I mean tested with a paper towel with fuel on it. If it won't stand that, it won't last and is a bunch of wasted work.
The AMA magazine had a three part series called: From the Ground Up. The article converted rubber band hold downs to a bolt on wing. If you are an AMA member go to the AMA web site, magazine section, back issues and look for the September, 2005 magazine. By the way, the entire three part series is really interesting.
I thought I read that back issues after 2001 weren't in the archives yet. Guess I'm going to have to check that out. If the back issues aren't available, is there a way to get the three part series?
Since the fuselage was not high enough at the LE to use dowels in the wing and holes in the fuse former, I drilled down through the front of the wing just behind what would be the shaped LE piece. The holes are angled rearward to keep the bolt heads flat on the wing surface. A sturdy plywood doubler will hopefully keep them from pulling through. :-) Another pair of bolts goes through the area you'd expect to find wing bolts in the TE.
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