Tag Archives: hot wire

It sounds odd wanting to lighten foam; especially when foam (at least to me) isn't thought of as being heavy. However, in terms of a large-scale plane, the wing cores can add up to be over four pounds. The roll of foam in a large scale wing is to provide aerodynamic shape and a little strength. A foam core wing is mostly dependent on its balsawood sheeting for its strength, where an all-wooden wing relies on spars to keep things rigid. The strength of a foam core wing can be increased by adding some structure and composites to distribute forces and reduce stress points. Ultimately’ you’re looking for the wing to be stronger and lighter than before the lightening process.