How do I correct wing dihedral?

Silver

If it's real bad ,just get a better quality kit.

GMorrison,

Re-inspecting my straightening of the upper wing I find that there's a very slight curve that I must have induced that doesn't belong there. It's within the overall dihedral and I'm sure I'll not be able to correct it. No matter, it's a learning experience and I am building this Lindberg Jenny more for practice than anything else.  I more or less straightened out the two bottom wing sections yesterday after reading what you said above.

Since this kit is pretty inexpensive and seems to be readily available (at least on eBay), I may try it again someday but I have 24 more aircraft kits to get to so I'm not too concerned.

Mike

1943Mike

 I've told my doctor to keep me alive for at least another 17 years so I can work my way through some of the ships and aircraft kits  that are taking a lot of space in my closets .

I'm glad it worked. It takes a fair amount of force and usually a number of repeats. I'm not gonna lie it also sometimes goes badly. But you did it, good work. Bear in mind though that since it's a biplane, you'll have to do the same to the lower wing. Simply forcing the assembly with rubber bands etc. will probably cause the top wing to spring back somewhat. I'm not familiar with the kit, but do check it out.

Don,

Thanks for the elaboration of Nathan's technique. As I mentioned in the post above - I was able to straighten out the dihedral by immersing the upper wing in boiling water and then simply bending it back to straight. I guess the first time I tried the boiling water method I was not successful simply because the stainless steel of my kitchen sink absorbed the heat too quickly. Also I had assumed that a little weight on the wing would do the trick without my physically bending the wing by hand. In any case it's fixed now and I've garnered a bit of confidence for the next time I need to straighten out styrene. I also will keep in mind the saw cut methods that both you and Nathan described.

Mike

Cutting the wing all the way through may not be needed.  You could try cutting only about half way through, on bottom surface.  Then the remaining bridge should be weak enough you can bend wings down.  Do the wings bend each side of center section or at the middle. If the former  you will need two cuts with a razor saw.  In either case, put gel CA in saw kerf, set wing down on a piece of wax paper and put heavy weights on outer panels. It should set fairly flat.

Glad you got it.

OK, straight as an arrow!!

Used my huge spaghetti caldron to put it in. Took it out with BBQ tongs. Looks like I can proceed .

Thanks to both of you - Nathan and Misty.

Mike

Good luck Mike. Maybe someone else on here who's built this kit can chime in.

you could compromise and sand the mating surfaces where the wing joins the fuselage to get the right angle. it wont reshape the wing but at least it will point in the right direction. i did this with my lightning. i also used small self tapping screws to secure them at the right angle .if the mating surface is sanded correctly you wont need the screws but it doesnt hurt.

Thanks for the reply Nathan.

I was afraid of the solution that you just mentioned - my modeling skills are still pretty naïve.

. I didn't really dip the wing in boiling water though. I put some weight on the center of the wing above the drain in my kitchen sink and poured in boiling water. I thought that perhaps just the weight of the filled measuring glass on top of the center of the wing would straighten it out. No luck. I'll give the obvious method that you describe a go - I can hold on to one wing tip and put the rest into boiling water for 10 seconds or so  -  then remove the wing from the water and try to bend it with some force in the opposite direction of its current dihedral. I'll let you know the result sometime today.

Again, thanks for the reply.

Mike

So you tried boiling water by dipping the part in the water for about 5-10 seconds, then bending it by hand and it doesn't work? Then all you can do is cut the wings off from the center part and glue them on the way they are supposed to go. Then you'll have to fill any gaps with putty or plastic strip.