Tuesday October 03, 2006
Tuesday October 03, 2006 After being away last weekend in NYC I got to do some airplane building this weekend. I've finished attaching the foam cores to each of the wing spars. I had done the leading edges two weekends ago. They turned out to be easier than the trailing edges. Mostly because they fit better which is because they are smaller and thicker. The trailing edges needed a lot more help lining up. In addition since you want the trailing edges straight, real straight you need to clamp these long straight edges to them. Here is the left leading edge while it is clamped and curing.
I didn't have much problem with the left side. The right side I ended up messing up the foam on the trailing edge. As you can see on the photo from the left side the aluminum channels are being held in place by clamps and bungee (and duct tape that you cant see). The duct tape is what mostly holds the channels together. On the left wing I didn't use duct tape on the whole length and I had the bungees pretty tight. While it was curing I was working the right wing and some of the duct tape popped loose. I caught it before the bungees tried to gouge the foam.
On the right wing I used duct tape on the whole length of the aluminum. I also didn't tighten the bungees as tight. Of course when I checked it the next day the duct tape had given way and the bungees had gouged the foam. You can barely see it in the picture below since most of the damage is at the outboard section of the wing. At least it is an easy thing to fix.
One thing I realize is how much room this is all going to take. I can't see how people build these things in their garage. I've got a 20x40 foot area here and I'm really starting to feel cramped. I'm already working on a design where I'll be able to hang the wings in storage out in the open section of the hangar to get them out of the way when I'm not working on them.