Hi, it's been a while since I was here but not lost.
My son totaled his Ziroli 120" B 25. Engine out, with bad information given to him. ie fly it with full throttle. Yeah right, have camera ready, get distance markers in line for crash sight, 5 sec to impact.

So he is building a new one. The fuselage is about eight feet long . As he was building the fuselage he introduced a horizontal (viewed from above) offset or warp into the structure. Picture a lifting wing section. Rather than a symetrical section. The offset from center is is about 2". The front from the leading edge of the wing is pretty good but from there to the tail there is a noticeable offset to one side.

Obviously there is a lot of work in getting this far, so do we scrap it out or just continue and build a learning flyer with no detail as a practice plane?

My vote is continue, build a straight wing, assemble with the the wing and tail nice and square to a centerline of the existing fuselage. I'd think it would fly ok maybe pull a little to one side that could be corrected with rudder trim. These warbirds typically weigh 45-50 pounds and the previous one flew over 90 mph. I've made some blunders building over the years and some crooked planes that flew just fine.

Originally Posted by bentwings

Hi, it's been a while since I was here but not lost.
My son totaled his Ziroli 120" B 25. Engine out, with bad information given to him. ie fly it with full throttle. Yeah right, have camera ready, get distance markers in line for crash sight, 5 sec to impact.

So he is building a new one. The fuselage is about eight feet long . As he was building the fuselage he introduced a horizontal (viewed from above) offset or warp into the structure. Picture a lifting wing section. Rather than a symetrical section. The offset from center is is about 2". The front from the leading edge of the wing is pretty good but from there to the tail there is a noticeable offset to one side.

Obviously there is a lot of work in getting this far, so do we scrap it out or just continue and build a learning flyer with no detail as a practice plane?

My vote is continue, build a straight wing, assemble with the the wing and tail nice and square to a centerline of the existing fuselage. I'd think it would fly ok maybe pull a little to one side that could be corrected with rudder trim. These warbirds typically weigh 45-50 pounds and the previous one flew over 90 mph. I've made some blunders building over the years and some crooked planes that flew just fine.

Is the plane sheeted yet? You would be surprised what can be accomplished with water and a little elbow grease.

go to Rc scale builder . com

There is a great thread there about a fella who built a twist into a skyraider fuse and built a jig with clamps, soaked the airframe and let it sit for a few days. Twist was completely gone. Definitely don't give up on it.

Yeah it already sheeted and glassed and sanded for primer. It apparently happened while sheeting. Rather than use 1/2" wide strips alternating sides to keep it straight, he used 3-4" wide sheets. He had to use a lot of pressure to form these even with ammonia and water. This is how the fuselage got bent. I'm surprised it's not twisted too. I thought about just sawing half a dozen slices on each side and cut out one side and add to the other. I don't think the strength can be built back in without adding a bunch of weight. It's hard to keep excess weight out of the tail as it is.

2" is a lot on a plane that size. A full size warbird hangar in my area had a F4F Wildcat that had been used for sheet metal patching practice and ended up about 3/4" out. They were going to reskin the fuse to fix it.


That is what I would recommend - either reskin or build a new rear section and join it with the front. The sawing idea has merit if you saw between each bulkhead - but then the remaining sheeting might have residual stress that would cause other bends.

Thanks for the comments. I think I'll give the sawing a try just to see if I can fix it. I'll have to put a fish plate between each stringer. Too bad they don't make minature Cleco fasteners. LOL. I'll weigh it and see just how much extra weight gets added.

In the end I think he will scrap it and build a new one.