Ace GLH 250 - My first balsa build!

Grifflyer

WWII fanatic
I have an adjustable heat gun, would I be better of tacking everything down with the iron and using the heat gun to shrink everything?
 

TooJung2Die

Master member
I switched to a heat gun when I discovered that covering film can stretch as well as shrink when heated. When I get a wrinkle that won't shrink out I apply the heat gun and pull out the wrinkle. You gotta wear work gloves and adjust the gun so it'll soften but not melt the film. Don't trim off the excess film overhang until all wrinkles have been shrunk out or stretched out.
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
I have an adjustable heat gun, would I be better of tacking everything down with the iron and using the heat gun to shrink everything?

I love using the heat guns to shrink larger areas, but you need to be careful as it's very easy to over-do it and warp the balsa structure. A regular iron (with a covering sock) is often a safer way to shrink. I often use a small trim iron to remove small wrinkles with good success. On a hot setting it lets me focus the heat in a small area.
 

Grifflyer

WWII fanatic
@Willy Nillies what are these four rectangles for?
P1280398.JPG
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
Here’s a guess as I don’t know how big they are from a picture - could they be doublers for the servo screws down there is more “meat” for the screws to bite down in to?
 

Willy Nillies

Elite member
Shear webs- 2 on right wing and 2 on left wing. Glue to the front of the spars in between ribs. Bay that ailerons horn comes out and next one immediately outboard.

I'll see if I can find a picture....

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Personally, I put sheer webbing all the way out to help prevent warping and give her a little extra strength. I had an incident this summer and lost my first giant scale WW1 plane when the wings collapsed due to no sheer webbing in the design, so I'm going a little extra on the webbing these days. I have seen several designs that only do webbing for the first third of the wing, and they seem to do just fine too.
 

Willy Nillies

Elite member
Hi Guys,

The first two rib bays is all that is necessary when using more than an 1803 on 3 cell. We found that alot of people were wanting to go 2204 and 4 cell, so we did the math and testing. Mike's airframe in the video below was the test bed with a 2204 on 4 cell. We think you'll see by his aggressive flying that it is plenty strong with just the two shear webs on each side. More than 2 and you are just adding weight.

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com