HAL9KPCM

I don't remember what mine is off hand, but seems to me my wing incidence is a little less than one. When I build my next one, I think I might try setting it to 0.

Creative RC

Thank you for this information as it helps confirm that I am on the right track by reducing it from 1.8 degrees to 0.5 degrees. Since you mention 0 degrees, I will try that with a spacer at the trailing edge and let you know what I find.

Creative RC

In my previous posts I had indicated that I had an angle of incidence of +1.8 degrees. This is very likely wrong as I had measured the incidence to include the trailing edge of the aileron which on this plane is not correct as the trailing edge is actually lower than the center line of the chord. The drawing even shows this and the instructions for flight recommend that the aileron be trimmed up (to a position which would most likely be in line with the center line of the chord) to remove the small flaperon look the underside of the aileron has and which would impart flaperon effect to the wing in flight.

On my plane the aileron is very wide at 2.25 inches and would also result with a misleading measured angle of incidence and even more flaperon effect in flight. All that said, I need to start again and measure the angle of incidence of the wing chord with the aileron removed which should give a more accurate result. It is very likely that I will find the angle of incidence to be less than 1 degree at the root or even at the +0.5 degree per design. For the next flight in the spring, I will trim up the aileron trailing edge of the aileron to be in line with the center line of the chord which will remove any flaperon effect it had been imparting on the wing.

Regardless of the above, there is one thing I did try in the field. I raised the trailing edge of the wing by 3.5 mm and a second time by 4.5 mm with rubber spacers. We found the wing to be very tolerant to incidence changes as the plane still flew well but keep in mind that the aileron was not trimmed up as is recommended in the instruction manual, the flaperon effect imparted by the aileron was still there. When i do test fly again there will be no spacers and the ailerons will be trimmed up to be in line with the center of the chord to cancel out any flaperon effect.

The first two drawings closely resemble my plane. Note how the center line of chord runs higher than the aileron trailing edge. The third photo is the original design where the flaperon effect is more easily seen and hence the need for up trim.

CoolCanuck

Well, I bought my first Komander back in the late summer of '73... yup, a long time ago. I was just 16 and had been flying a few rc sailplanes. Then I bought the World Engines Expert 7, based on all of those wonderful W.E. ads and added a YS60 to the mix. Thus my first motorized rc plane was born. The YS60 (the original, with the side exhaust muffler - either closed or open front cap) was definitely a screamer and, as YS engines were, more powerful than the rest. Defintely the proper setup for a "Trainer".

I flew the plane for a few summers back when I was still in Montreal. Sometime in '80 I messed up and flew it vertically into the ground at full bore. Yup. Saving grace was that the ground was somewhat soggy. It nosed in perfectly straight - smashing the prop, the cowling and burying itself into the ground just past the root leading edge.
There it was- the tail sticking up like a post, the wing still in one piece. It took a while to dig 'er out, but the fuselage aside from the cowl was still intact. No fuel seepage. No cracks in the fuselage / wing or tail. I could hardly believe it. However, when I went to clean the engine out I found that the crankshaft now had a couple of cracks internally. Bummer. Engine 0 . Plane 1 .

Fast forward a year and I got a new job overseas, so I loaned the airframe to a buddy who installed his own engine and flew it for a few more years. When he was done with it, he gave it back to my dad, who hung it in the covered sunroom for a number of years. It must have fallen down from there a few times and when I returned after 13 years, the plane was beaten up.
Death in storage.

So, back in the late 90's I scored another Komander on the bay and have had it until now in the box, started by the previous owner (one wing half sheeted), but otherwise just as it was put in the box at SIG.

Me thinks it's about time to build this one up , possibly as a tribute model to my first one. This time, even though I now have about a dozen YS engines of various sizes and side/rear exhausts, I think I will go electric. I like what creative rc did on his, but will only halve the amount of dihedral from the original.

Looking forward to starting this journey over the coming winter.

Creative RC

Good idea to reduce the dihedral. That was done with mine.