BUILD THE WING PANELS
NOTE: If you will be installing a retractable landing gear,
disregard Steps 6 and 7.
NOTE: It will be helpful to build the wing on a piece of
"Celotex" or other semi-soft (and flat) surface, into which
you may easily stick pins to firmly hold down the wing parts
while building, to avoid warps.
1. Tape the plan to your flat work surface, and cover
the wing drawing with waxed paper (so you won't glue the
wing to the plan!). NOTE; If your work space is limited, you
may cut the left and right wing half drawings apart.
6. Note that the wing plan shows two alternate loca-
tions for the main landing gear blocks. Note also that Ribs
W-2, W-3 and W-4 have partial cutouts for each of the two
locations. If you are building your plane as a taildragger, cut
out the front notches in these ribs. If you are building your
plane with a tricycle gear, cut out the rear notches. (If you I
|will be installing retracts, do not cut out any of the notches).
7. Glue the die-cut 1/16" ply landing gear doublers to
2. The shaped and notched wing leading edges (LE)
and trailing edges (TE) are fastened together by thin strips of
balsa. Separate them by folding until the balsa breaks. Sand
away the excess balsa that remains along the edges after
breaking them apart, using a T-bar with 100-grit sandpaper.
3. Before using the 1/4" x 1/2" x 30" hard balsa spars,
ribs W-2, W-3 and W-4. Be sure to glue them to the correct
side of the ribs, as shown on the plan (make a right and a left
set). Sand the doublers even with the edge of the ribs.
8. Prepare the leading edge sheeting as follows: Edge
glue the 3/32" x 1" x 13" balsa sheets to the 3/32" x 3" x 30"
balsa sheets as shown here ...
examine them carefully for possible imperfections. Look for
knots, soft spots, diagonal grain and any other imperfections.
If possible, position each spar so the imperfections (if any) are
on the outer half of the wing panel (toward the tip), where they
will be least affected by high stress. If the spars are warped
slightly, try to "balance them out" by installing the warped
spars in opposite directions (see sketch).
TWO WARPED SPARS INSTALLED
THIS W A Y WILL RESULT IN A
STRAIGHT WING
Now measure and mark the balsa sheeting (see sketch
below), then cut the angle in the sheeting, cutting along a
metal straightedge for accuracy.
TWO WARPED SPARS INSTALLED
THIS W A Y WILL RESULT IN A
WARPED WING
NOTE: Follow steps 9 through 34 to build the RIGHT
wing panel, then repeat these steps to build the LEFT wing
panel
4. Find the four 1/8" x 1/2" x 14-1/2" balsa spar
doublers. Sand one end of each spar doubler to a taper as
shown in the "Wing Spar Detail" on the plan. Glue the spar
doublers to the spars, and sand off any excess glue.
T-Pins
Spar
5. Carefully punch out all the die-cut 3/32" balsa wing
ribs. Sand the edges slightly to remove any die-cutting
irregularities.
9. Pin one of the spars to the plan with the spar
doubler up and toward the root NOTE: The spars are cut
slightly too long. Center the spar on the plan so an equal
amount protrudes on both ends.
9
