Flair Pupppeteer

[Ashley Hunt]

Thanks to lockdown I’ve built a Puppeteer that’s been waiting for about 35 years to be completed. In previous discussions on this site about the balancing of a Puppeteer nearly everyone said that the balance point as shown on the plans was not correct and that that it should be balanced with the nose down. So my question now that I’ve come to that point is how much nose down, a little or a lot ? I suppose it would be really helpful if someone could tell me how much further forward from the marked balance point on the wings I should go. Thanks.

[Jon H]

If memory serves my dad's example was balanced per the plan and then later had a 1lb chunk of lead nailed to the firewall. How that relates to the angle of dangle i cant really say for sure.

He has an OS52 4 stroke up front so if you have a heavier/lighter power plant you might need to adjust the ballast figure.

Dont be afraid to add the weight though, they have so much wing area it makes no real difference.

[Rob Fairweather 1]

3 degrees nosedown seemed to be Dudley's rule of thumb.

[Andy Stephenson]

Why not just balance it level from a different position. This nose down thing always sounded like a bit of an old wives tale.

[Andy48]

I agree. I hate it when a plan says balance nose down. If it is balanced, it should be level.

[Rob Fairweather 1]

That's what it says on my current SE5a build, and my Puppeteer and Harvard instructions.

Meybe to err on the side of caution ?

[jrman]

Balance it with tailplane level. That's how it will fly.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

The C of G position marked on a plan is a guidance really. Advocating hanging nose down is the designers way of ensuring any error is on the safe side. In full size practice, there is a permissable range specified so looking for perfection to a few thousandths of an inch is overkill. You will see a range marked on a minority of plans to reflect this but many designers simply mark what they think is likely to give reasonable results. We are really all test pilots due to all the variations in builds - even ARTFs can differ between examples - so the principle of starting at a safe position and working back to the "sweet spot" is best.

[Ashley Hunt]

These replies are all really helpful. It seems that to err on the side of caution by balancing it with the nose a few degrees down will make a good starting point.

Thanks very much.

[i12fly]

Just a bit more info, mine was balanced level just a few mm in front of the CoG indicated on the plan. It was unflyable. After adding 8 oz of lead in the cowl it is OK (Engine is SC70FS). It also needs down trim on the elevator (about 2mm) to fly level. Don't know why, it suggests that the wing incidence is wrong -although it is built precisely as plan. Flies nicely now though.