Hi all, name here is Dennis and I got a small problem. I have a Kadet 40 Trainer and I have been working on it for awhile now and I was working on the wing and I had things setup, then things happen, I found the wing next day on the floor... not a good feeling,, I got the wing cut in two with not much damage and now here's the problem.. I have no idea what the dihedral angel is ????
Can anyone help Thanks Dennis
I have no idea what the design spec is, but I have a Great Planes PT-60 which has about a 70" wing span and it calls for one wing tip 4" above the table with the other flat on the table. Mine actually came out with about
3" because everything lined up really well and I didn't want to sand any more. My plane is very stable and doesn't look like a flying V.If you want the actual spec, go to
The dihedral angle is not critical. Anything above a completely flat wing is fine.
Now, why can't you just put the wing back together the way it was?
I'm not familiar with all of the iterations of the Kadet, but if you are not using ailerons, make it at least 2". Four inches would not be out of line at all.
Ed Cregger
Actually a completely flat wing is fine. I am currently modifying an old Ugly Stick and I am adding anhidrel, that is the wings tilt down. But with a trainer I would put a two by four on the 2 inch side under one wing and forget about it. Any signifcant amount is a help. If your are glueing the wing halves together without a brace, you should fiberglass the center joint.
The Kadet isn't going to be a stunter, regardless of what you do to it, so it might as well be pleasant to shoot touch'n'goes with. Dihedral helps a bunch in this regard.
Models with perfectly flat wings are tiring to fly to me. It's all a matter of personal preference, I will admit, but I like that groovy feeling you get on approach when a model has some dihedral.
Ed Cregger
A Kadat with flat wings does a pretty good slow roll. I hate having to throw in ailerons on stall turns and knifeedge. Sometimes diehedrial is even a problem on turning approach's when it is on just the right radius and the diehedrial tries to straighten it out. But IMO a floater needs diehedrial when just circling with the eagles.
Dihedral is never a problem, if you understand its function and set up the model properly.
Wanna real surprise? Go stand about fifty feet in front of a Pipe Cherokee. Talk about massive dihedral.
As you pointed out, indirectly, it depends upon the type of flying you wish to do as to how desirable dihedral is or is not.
I always increase the size of my ailerons and other control surfaces over stock, especially on "floaters". Dihedral doesn't stand a chance against those control surfaces. But, yes, you do have to hold the control surface deflected while in a turn when using dihedral, unlike a neutrally stable model.
Ever successfully knife-edge a Goldberg Cub from horizon to horizon? That cross controlling seperates the men from the boys when it comes to pilot bragging rights.
Ed Cregger
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