Help! Fuselage not 90 quite square??

RegisG

New member
Building my 1st foam (Simple Storch) and when I look at fuselage, it is not square with top. Haven't installed bottom plate yet.

Is there a way to straighten this? Thought about running heat gun enough to soften the hot glue. But, am I introducing different problem or can that even work?

Appreciate tips to correct this as similar may come up in future.

Thanks,
Regis
 

kilroy07

Legendary member
A quick pic will help us to see the severity (Whether it is simply cosmetic or might cause issues with the flight.)

If you haven't done the bottom plate, you might be able to correct it at that time.

I really like aluminum speed squares (aka framing triangles, Carpenter's square) I like the metal ones because they are almost heavy enough to set by themselves as the glue sets. Should only be a couple bucks at the hardware store.
IMG_8266[1].JPG
 

evranch

Well-known member
Just flex it with your fingers gently, both foamboard and hot glue have enough give that it should be fine. Get it near square and the bottom plate will hold it in place.

Once completely assembled, if it's still off square, you can push it against the bench and flex the top until it lines up. Foamboard is actually amazingly tough, once you learn what it can take.
 

TexMechsRobot

Posted a thousand or more times
Also, don't stress too much even if the fuselage isn't square once you've tried to correct it. A twisted fuselage will fly fine if the wings, vertical stabilizer, and horizontal stabilizer all are correct. You may need to add shims here or there to get those square but a crooked fuselage is not the end of the world.
 

RegisG

New member
Thanks all for the tips. I'll finish it up. Too much rain here for few days so I can take my time to complete.
 

Brett_N

Well-known member
it'll fly. The Storch is extremely forgiving. Actually, just about all of the FT planes are super forgiving with regards to squareness. I've flown some of them with wings flopping around (hot glue melts here in Arizona :ROFLMAO: )