Originally Posted by flipteg

I think that is when APC suddenly changed the thickness of their prop hubs making some of the older Torque motor adapters too short.

the Hacker A30 series adapter fits, it's longer and it's stainless steel.

Originally Posted by 172AMD

Zack, first make sure your table is flat. Now take the gear off and slide the wing tube in so it is centered. Now find four objects that are all the same height, I like to use soup cans (full). Now support the fuselage with the soup cans under the wing tube and under the stab. Make sure the soup cans are positioned at the same location in relation to the wing tube and stabs on each side. Now have a look at how the stab rests on the soup cans. Any warp or missalignment will be very easy to see. If you have a large cutting matt with markings, you can set this up over the cutting matt and use the markings to postion the stab square to the wing tube before gluing. I used this method on my Osiris.

This model is much smaller and the wings are on , but you get the idea!

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried and there is some warp in it for sure . Although you can't see it very well in the photo there's clearly a gap between the can and the bottom of the stab. I'm not sure what to do now. Anyone have any ideas?

Originally Posted by ZackJones

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried and there is some warp in it for sure . Although you can't see it very well in the photo there's clearly a gap between the can and the bottom of the stab. I'm not sure what to do now. Anyone have any ideas?

just hold it in the fuselage straight, apply a few drops of CA... recheck for straightness, adjust as necessary, but if it's straight then apply the rest of the CA to glue in place.

Originally Posted by theKM

just hold it in the fuselage straight, apply a few drops of CA... recheck for straightness, adjust as necessary, but if it's straight then apply the rest of the CA to glue in place.

I'm beginning to wonder if it's the fuse. Here are some more photos for you to check out. I don't see any obvious twists, etc. Doesn't 48" Edge have an airfoil tail? If so I'll go watch the build video for that and see if Ben offers any advice on alignment.

it doesn't appear to have a warp at all... I'd just put it in the plane, line it up, make sure it's straight, glue it in... continue with the rest of the build. Even if there was a slight warp, stabs and elevators make very bad ailerons and would take next to no trim to correct on the ailerons and you're back to a dead straight flying airplane.

Originally Posted by theKM

it doesn't appear to have a warp at all... I'd just put it in the plane, line it up, make sure it's straight, glue it in... continue with the rest of the build. Even if there was a slight warp, stabs and elevators make very bad ailerons and would take next to no trim to correct on the ailerons and you're back to a dead straight flying airplane.

Will do. Sorry for taking up so much of the thread for a non-issue. I'm sure the issue is with my lack of experience with building ARFs. This is only the 3rd 3DHS plane I've built so the problem is with me and not the kit

is this your first with an airfoiled tail? I think you might be getting tricked here

stick the wingtube in and make sure the stab. is level with the wingtube. A shim on one side may be required from time to time, but it's pretty rare.

Originally Posted by Fliprob17

is this your first with an airfoiled tail? I think you might be getting tricked here

It is. My other builds were the Buck Huck and Extra 300 SHP which don't have airfoil tails.

The gap looks quite small, looks like the right side of the stab is slightly high. Sand the lower edge of the right stab cut out and sand the upper edge of the left stab cutout until the stab rests on the cans with no gaps. With that small gap not much sanding will be needed. Now either fill in any gaps in the fuselage stab cut outs with shims of balsa sheet or if the gap is small use med or thick ca to fill the gap. My 62" Osiris manual says to use card stock for shims, but I prefer balsa as you can sand it to any thickness required.

Originally Posted by 172AMD

The gap looks quite small, looks like the right side of the stab is slightly high. Sand the lower edge of the right stab cut out and sand the upper edge of the left stab cutout until the stab rests on the cans with no gaps. With that small gap not much sanding will be needed. Now either fill in any gaps in the fuselage stab cut outs with shims of balsa sheet or if the gap is small use med or thick ca to fill the gap. My 62" Osiris manual says to use card stock for shims, but I prefer balsa as you can sand it to any thickness required.

Thanks for the advice. I just remembered I have AJ's Osiris video. I'll go watch the elevator / stab chapters. I'm an idiot for not thinking about that sooner

Originally Posted by ZackJones

Thanks for the advice. I just remembered I have AJ's Osiris video. I'll go watch the elevator / stab chapters. I'm an idiot for not thinking about that sooner

Either that or just get a cardstock shim and stick it in there and see if that trues everything up for you and get on with the build!

I had to add some card stock to get even with the wing tube on mine.

cardstock is a perfect shim if you have to have one

Some shimming or fuse trimming may be necessary to get perfect alignment. I just assembled my Vyper and had to trim the fuse about 20 thou to get it just perfect.

Originally Posted by ZackJones

I'm beginning to wonder if it's the fuse. Here are some more photos for you to check out. I don't see any obvious twists, etc. Doesn't 48" Edge have an airfoil tail? If so I'll go watch the build video for that and see if Ben offers any advice on alignment.

card stock is a cool idea