Dipping Wing?

[Gene Elliott]

Guys,
It was a beautiful sunny day in Nashville today and I went flying. On a new scratchbuilt I got two flights. Whenever I would do an inside loop and when I would come out of it at the upright position the port wing wants to dip down and I had to backpeddle to get the slack out. Not enought tip weight in the starboard wing? What do you think?

Thanks, Gene

[Joe Messinger]

Hello Gene,

What plane are you having the problem with and how much tip weight do you have in it now?

Maybe that info will help someone here come up with a suggestion to fix your your problem.

Joe

[phil c]

Gene, you've got to do some more flying to see what is really the matter.  It could be a warp, leadout position, or tip weight, or a combination of all three.  You have to put the plane through some continous loops, both directions and see how it behaves.

If the plane has adjustable leadouts, use the LineII program, or the calculator in the downloads section, and set the leadouts where it says.  That will be very close.  If the leadouts are too far back the plane will tend to drop the outboard tip, especially in hard corners down low, like the inside squares.


do some large inside and outside loops.  If the plane comes in or gets light on the lines when turning insides it has a left roll.  Vice versa for outsides.  Warp the other way to correct it.

If the plane tends to bank in or out when turning both directions, then you need to change the tip weight.  In your case, if it gets light turning both directions, it needs more tip weight.

Tip weight can mask a small warp.  the plane will feel fine most of the time, but if it gets slowed down up high, the warp will take over and make it do something unexpected.

[Gene Elliott]

This is my own design using the measurements from the Ukey 35 with a Gotch Streak foam wing on which I put cap strips, covered leading and trailing edges as per Tom Dixon then covered with silkspan. 49" span, and all controls are fully adjustable. I made it this way so I could learn some advanced fllying. She glides beautifully and seems to be well balanced. Plenty of power with Magnum 32. I will giver her some more air time and follow your suggestions.

Thanks men!
Gene

[Steve Helmick]

Paul Walker's Trimming Flow Chart should be in your field box.  It would probably be a good thing for Sparkster to put in the "Download" section, actually.  Consider laminating it in clear plastic, or putting it in a notebook. Steve

PS: Hmmmm. You have to click on it, to get it to open. Maybe Sparky can fix? It's a Word document, so you'll have to have some sort of Word or Office program. Ahaha! I also had it in .jpg format, and it works. The .doc version is bigger, better, and easier to read, tho.

OBTW: Unless you tell us which direction you're flying, we don't know for sure if the port wing is inboard or outboard...

[Gene Elliott]

Steve,
Thanks for the chart. I used to fly a Piper Cub J3 years ago and port as you know is to the left of the guy in the cockpit. I do need to switch to the inboard/outboard terminology. Thanks for your input!!

Gene

[Steve Helmick]

I'm a boater. I know Port from Chardonay... Steve

[Clancy Arnold]

Easy way to remember port from starboard and color red or green.  Port is 4 letters, left is 4 letters and port wine is red.
Clancy

[Wayne Collier]

When I finally learned what the terms "port" and "starboard" meant, it got easier to remember which side is which.  I still have trouble with right and left.

[Harry Rice]

"Is there any Red Port Left?"

Cheers


Harry

[Gene Elliott]

Yes, Harry, there's port in the cabinet on your left hand side as you face forward unless you're doing a hand stand in the UK . . . wait, you ARE in the Uk, so it's definately tentative that . . . what was my original question?

Gene