Attaching the Wings

The wings are attahced by getting them into the correct position using "H" braces. The horizontal board holding up the wing is adjusted for the correct incidence angle, dihedral, fore/aft sweep, etc.

The wing is attahced to the body at only two points. The rear attachment point is a universal joint that will allow the wings to be folded back. The fron attachment point is not predetermined by the factory. The builder is responsible for correctly alligning the wings with the body. This is a teadious process in which about five critical angles and dimensions must be set properly. And, whenever you change one all of the others are affected. It took about 3 hours of continuous small corrections to bring everything into proper alignment. When everything is right, you match drill through the fuselage into the wing to permanently set the positon of the wings.

The wings are in place, but the wooden "H" braces are still holding up the wings. Wing struts will be custom cut and fitted to hold the wings up. Believe it or not, some of my neighbors are just now figuring out what it is I'm building. I'm now officially the villiage crack pot with a death wish!

The wings are holding themselves up! This is a major milestone, and as far as I'm concerned, it is a downhill project from here (except for the paint job) At this point it is 11:00 at night - 10 hours after I began trying to attach the wings! I wouldn't have made it before 2:00 a.m. if it had not been for my "Technical Advisor" Mike and his daughter, Kelly. They came over at 7:00p and ended up staying until the job was done four hours later. Thanks! ;)

It fits! The wheels are temporarily on and it's really beginning to look like a plane now.

A close up of the really cheap brakes. The brake drums are warped! They are so thin that they don't hold their shape! It's okay though, I'll only use them to hold the plane back for the pre-takeoff engine run-up.