Challenger Tail

[Piggy89373]

Ok, here's the deal: the tail on the challenger now sits slightly off to one side. It's not the boom (at least I'm pretty certain) because the boom is still tightly seated and will not rotate at all. Closely inspecting the tail assembly, it's easy to see that one side seats closer to the retaining piece (light colored plastic bit that rests on top of the v-tail and has the adhesive). I remember when I assembled it, the v would not seat flush against this piece and still line up with the insert tabs (3 pokey bits that puncture the tail on each side). The c clip looking things also interfered with this because these do not puncture the tail. I know the clip tabs regulate tension for adjusting pitch of the tail. But, I think by removing these the tail will seat fully and return the tail to a centered position. The pitch can be adjusted by small plastic or lexan shims.

Has anybody done this? Has no one thought about this? Did I just fall off the turnip truck because this is a really bad idea? Am I just hosed and need to drop the 12 bucks for a new tail assembly? Any insight is appreciated.

BTW, this change in tail alignment really causes the plane to veer to one side in a very very mild breeze or catching a thermal from a parking lot. Needless to say, it resulted in near catastrophic lawn dart that has the nose looking worse than a boxer's (asphalt sucks for this).

[bigedmustafa]

My Aerobird Challenger has a LOT of play in the tail due to more than a couple of crashes over the last few months. I have replaced the tail assembly once already, and both the new and the old tail have a tendancy to "lean" to one side or the other.

In my opinion, this is not going to be easily prevented simply because of the less-than-rock-solid tail design. Instead of worrying about it, I simply double-check the tail alignment before launch and give the tail assembly a bit of a twist to line it up with the the front body.

I still get good, level flights out of my Aerobird. Spending extra time and effort to make sure the tail stays perfectly lined up isn't necessary for level, reliable flight. If you do come up with an easy, effective way to stiffen up the tail though, I'd love to hear about it!