Tom Clarkson asks: >Anyone have any ideas on how to make super light gap seal tape for the underside of ailerons on handlaunch gliders?...< We have found that good gap seals can be very important in some flight modes if you want to get the most out of your airfoil. Fortunately, simple but effective gap seals are easy to make. I like to use scotch tape seals for this. Cheap, light, doesn't overload the servo, conforms to the surface and can be formed to follow the deflections of a control surface. They do wear out eventually, but they're cheap and easy to replace. Get some 1/2" wide scotch tape, 3-M 600, or other similar tape. Pull out a strip of it long enough for the gap you're trying to seal plus a little extra. Use two short pieces of tape (one at each end) to tape this strip STICKY SIDE UP to a cutting board. It should be snug and straight, but not stretched tight. Now tape another strip (again STICKY SIDE UP) right alongside the first one, their edges butting together along their entire length, but not overlapping. Now take a third piece and CAREFULLY lay it sticky side down, exactly centered over the butted edges of the first two tapes so that 1/4" is on one tape and 1/4" on the other. You get ONE try at this, so do it right. I find it usually works best to hold the piece of tape stretch out over the approximate final location, lower one end into position, then (keeping the tape stretched so it doesn't sag in the middle and get stuck prematurely!) carefully lower the other end into position. Use a no. 11 X-acto knife, single-edge razor blade, piece of broken mayonnaise jar, or other very sharp implement of your choice, to slice the tapes into two pieces along the line formed by the butted edges of the first two tapes. Voila! You now have two complete gap seals, with a 1/4" wide strip of sticky-one-side tape for the attaching half, and a double thick and non-sticky 1/4" wide strip to form the wiper half. Cut it loose at the ends, carefully lay it in place on the model and rub the sticky side down onto the model's surface. You can also deflect the control surface away from the gap seal, then rub along the edge of the gap to form a bend in the gap seal that will keep it pressed against the control surface during moderate control deflections. It takes less time to do than it does to describe. I also use these on the ruddervators of my personal 2-M Spectre (the one in the photos on our website you can see one of these gap seals on the right ruddervator in the photo labelled "Close-up of the V-Tail (Top view)") to save weight in the tail. It works fine on any surface of an HLG, including flaperons, and should be OK for tail surfaces on most models. However, I wouldn't recommend them for flaps and ailerons of 2-meter and larger models, those tend to see a lot of abuse during landings. For those applications the sturdier conventional gap seals are probably a better choice. Don Stackhouse @ DJ Aerotech [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.bright.net/~djwerks/ RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
