Lead out lengths

What is everyone's thought on length of lead outs from the wing tip
and why. I've seen short (2") and long (8")and wonder the reasoning on these.

Good Question! I always leave them longer because I can redo the terminations at least once if I notice them starting to wear. I look at it as cheap insurance.

That sounds like an excellent idea. I've been doing them "just" long enough - usually 2-3". I measure by how much travel there is from full-out to full-in, and aim to leave about 1/2" at full-in. My reasoning is just that there didn't seem to be much reason to leave them longer than that.

Robert, I agree with the Circle Burner on the reasoning. I too leave them long enough to re-do once (never had to). I don't however like them real long because of the potential of them hanging up. That is also a function of how close together they are at the tip. I use 1 1/4" spacing on my leadout slider and leave them about 5" long. It would also depend on the size of the bellcrank and how much movement is involved. The smaller the bellcrank the less movement. I'm not sure any of this is critical to flight trimming, more a function of safety and repairability.

I usually make one leadout enough longer than the other that there is no possibility of the clips, etc. hanging up. I use at most 3/4 in spacing of the leadout guides. I have found it easier than I thought to cut a leadout too short to start with.

The reason John uses 1 3/4 in spacing is that he is an intermediate flyer who can fly 40-point maneuvers. This would be embarassing to all concerned. By using the wide spacing he gets anough wiggle and yaw on corners that the excellence of his maneuvers is concealed from the judges and all are kept happy.

Jim, Why Are you busting my tail? I really thought we were friends. You have hurt my feelings. See you at the Fish Fry (I hope)

Sorry John, It is just a character flaw--caused by my envy of your beautiful airplanes, I suppose. All in fun, of course.

I found it best to make them at least 8 inches long to allow for later adjustments due to wear or corrections (read crashes and repairs). If they are going to tangle it would be during maneuvers, not at neutral or so it seems to me. Make them tangle proof by slipping some heat shrink tubing over them. Make the tubing diferent colors so "up" is always a color such as blue while down is white or red. Just a suggestion.

This is one of those interesting threads. In '56, I started out going with the flow, and all my ships were set up with solid music wire leadouts, a real 'noose-ance' that seemed to catch on everything. I then switched to the Sullivan cable leadouts, but left them short (3") in retrospect of the solid ones, also to keep them from snagging one another just prior to takeoff. Seems like the 'last thing you would check'. Close line spacing on Stunters has made me aware of the possibility of line-connector entanglement. Do 6-8" leadouts make this a veritable concern?

I stagger my lead outs. One is shorter then the other WHEN I have the lead outs close together. When further apart they’re both the same lengths, about 4-6” from wing tip. If I have to change or redo a lead-out end, I’ll cut in and redo the whole thing.

Scott (overkill) Riese

If you still insist on the music wire type, don't make 'em very long from the tip. Because, when you are sticking that Magnum in your Mini (sorry, BMW) they get all bent, usually right near the tip lead exit holes.

Finished, I believe they should just be long enough to have complete travel with about 1/2" extra clearance. Why have more?

BTW, did you ever notice that the Sullivan leadouts are JUST not quite long enough to cut in two? I always ended up buying two of them to get a comfortable amount of line to work with.

Now I'm using "windshield wire" for leadouts, which is quite inexpensive, available at auto paint shops (for pulling out the rubber windshield mouldings). It is a bit stiffer than the Sullivan wire, "golden" colored, and solderable.

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"Always behave like a duck - keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath." -Jacob Braude

What I need to do is find a source of the "windshield wire" in .015 - to use in F2D Combat. The European carbon steel wire beats (or rather, cuts through) American stainless steel hands down.

My philosophy on leadouts:

1) They're exactly the same length plane to plane (for all the big-uns, not the 1/2-As).

2) They're exactly the same length. When I put a line clip through both leadouts, and pull on the clip, the airplane's controls are set to exactly neutral.

I also make sure my lines are exactly the same length, from set to set, and also each line in each set.

This takes care of two things.

1) I can use any set of lines with any airplane, with my standard handle, and they'll pass the line length test.

2) No need to fiddle around with the handle to get neutral. Just hook the lines up, make sure I haven't got them reversed, do a cursory neutral check, and then go fly.

Because of this (no stagger), and because, on Combat planes, the leadout guides are just 1/2" apart (some people actually use the same hole for both, many eschewing leadouts altogether), my leadouts don't extend more than 3 inches or so from the leadout guide.