DLG Wing Advice

[jsut210]

Hey guys! I'm building the Mimi DLG out of balsa and had some questions regarding the wing. My issue is pretty much that I used some less than quality balsa for the outer section of the right wing and it is now unbalanced. This means that one side of the wing is heavier than the other. I have to add about 10 grams of weight to the right side (the side without the peg) to get it to lay flat. My question is will this unbalance harm the flight characteristics at all with such a large diedral? I think I read somewhere that adding weight to your wingtip messed with the launch characteristics. Is this true? Here are some pictures:

 

[rcspaceflight]

It seems like a good idea to balance out the wings. Especially since it's a DLG. You don't want to end up having to trim the plane to have the rudder and/or ailerons to be fighting against the weight difference. Having a control surface engaged all the time would produce more drag. Drag and weight is your enemy with DLGs. It'll probably be better to have the extra weight in order to loose some drag.

 

[earthsciteach]

10 grams seems like a lot of imbalance, given that you have to place it that far out on the wing. What is the mass of the peg?

 

[lonewolf7717]

10g is quite a bit and I would bet actual weight of one wing to another is more than that considering how far out you have to leverage coin. I am not an expert balsa builder but the first thing that comes to my mind is to double up on your ribs at tip of light wing....if you are going with opaque covering it wouldn't be noticeable plus if you go overboard you can always sand a little bit off at time till you get it spot on.

 

[lonewolf7717]

Perhaps even some thinner but heavier hardwood ribs, epoxied in place on the balsa rib....make a hardwood/ balsa sandwich of sorts.

 

[jsut210]

Haha that's the other thing...The peg Isn't even installed yet! Along with some carbon cloth I still have to compensate for the peg. So should I add reinforcement to the lighter wing and maybe hollow out a spot for a smaller coin? Maybe a penny(2.5g) or a nickel(5g)? Also, do you guys have any tips for reducing the tail wight? I seems inefficient to add unnecessary weight to the front to balance it out.

 

[jsut210]

So I've added some ply to all the ribs in the lighter side of the wing. It still needs about 7 grams of balance weight... Is it a problem if I just glue some pennies in?

 

[xuzme720]

That should work fine but I have to wonder why it's so lopsided... is it possible the right side is supposed to be heavier so as to balance with the peg install and the wing parts parts got swapped?

Disregard...I just went back to the first post. I thought it was a kit, not a scratch build...

 

[Mike oxbig]

So I've added some ply to all the ribs in the lighter side of the wing. It still needs about 7 grams of balance weight... Is it a problem if I just glue some pennies in?

Shouldn't be a problem. I dump money in my planes all the time.

 

[lonewolf7717]

Shouldn't be a problem. I dump money in my planes all the time.

Genuine giggle on that one.