Speed 400
Cloudster Project
Now that the two wing halves are
joined together, the remaining construction of the center section can
continue. The first task was to remove a portion of the two temporary R1
ribs on either side of the center section as shown below.
In an earlier step, portions of the
two temporary center section ribs between the upper and lower 3/32" X
1/4" main spars were left in place to preserves the vertical spacing
between the upper and lower spars.
In order to
fabricate a plywood polyhedral support brace that will fit between the
two main spars and bridge the center section, a template was drawn
by pressing a trimmed sheet of 1/16" balsa up against the rear face of
the main spars across the center section and tracing an outline from
the front inside the two spars. The 1/16" balsa template was cut out as
shown in the upper portion of the picture below. The balsa template was
then placed on a sheet of 1/16" plywood and the pattern traced onto the
plywood. The plywood support brace was cut out and sanded to fit in
between the two main spars, which is shown in the lower portion of the
picture below.
As part of the Cloudster's on
going weight saving effort, ten 1/4" lightening holes were carefully
located and made in the plywood support brace as shown below before it was
glued into the center section.
The finished plywood support brace was then slipped into place between the
two main spars. The 1/4" wide spars are much wider than the 1/16" brace.
Since the main spars are 1/4" wide, the brace will be centered inside the
spars when there is a 3/32" distance between the edges of the spars and
the brace (i.e., 3/32 + 1/16 + 3/32 = 1/4). Therefore a piece of 3/32"
balsa was used to center the brace before it was permanently glued in
place as shown below.
Work was stopped for today as
the final design of the wing attachment to the fuselage has not yet been
completed................................Tandy