peso

After having tried to build a stiff and light horizontal tail for a scratch built 30% Extra I find that I need 3/4 of an ounce of lead to statically balance each elevator. Together that is as heavy as a servo which bother me. Is it common to balance the elevators nowadays or could I skip it.
/PO

Fastsky

I would just skip it. The lateral balance on a plane is a total balance thing. Heavier pieces here or there is what contributes to the entire balance of the plane. Either way, you correct the balance by adding weight into one side of the wing, or the other. Its easier to do before the wing is covered. Hope this helps!

snsmith

My Feedback: (5)

I would balance them...it helps prevent flutter and takes load off the servo. Did you balance them separately or on the stab using the hinges? I've found that having the hinges in the equation while determine balance is completely hit and miss.

I balance the elevators alone by using T-pins pushed through a chunk of styrofoam and resting the point of the elevator leading edge on the point of the T-pins. Far more accurate and I usually find I need less than 1/2 an ounce to balance the elevator.

If you are worried about excess weight, just reduce the weight. Even if it's not perfectly balanced, lessening the imbalance is still beneficial (in other words, some is better than none).