Right Wing VIII

6/1/2006

Plywood leading edge

The plans call for an aluminium sheet leading edge. However, the general trend nowadays seems to be 1/16 ply. I can think of 2 advantages of ply, i) Hangar rash: The ply would definitely take knocks better than alum', ii) Strength: the ply is glued on, not nailed on, thus forming a solid D-shaped box making the wing extra rigid.

I wasn't sure which end of the wing should have the scarf join, I finally decided inboard at St.13 1/4. I figured IF the final join was noticeable after covering, it would at least be in an inconspicuous location.

Compression Strut at St 2 1/4

I am getting close to trammeling the wing, so I needed to take a look at fitting the compression strut at St.2 1/4. I noticed this 3/4 x 3/4 compression strut would clash with the spar butt fitting nuts. If I was to tension the drag wires, the nuts I feared, would compress the end grain of the strut. So I fitted a piece of steel plate at each end of the strut [see pic].

I found out afterword's from Steen Aero that it is not imperative that the strut spans completely from rear to front spa, because its job is to stop the rib from collapsing during drag wire tensioning, and that when the wing is attached to the fuselage, the centered [23 1/8" I believe] fuselage brackets will hold the spars stable - not the compression strut.

Oh well, I still feel good about adding the steel compression plates :0)

I also added a couple of extra doublers on the strut. These were positioned approximately where the aileron push-rod hole will exit into the fuselage.