Well Guys,
So nice to see you on your couches, popcorn in hand, waiting for the latest episode. Unfortunately, Star Wars 105 it isn't (more like Child of Frankenstein II).
What delayed me somewhat on this is the fact that I felt (rightly, I think) that the heavy sanding and filling, on the wings and fuselage, would be easier achieved before the wings were attached. This of course took longer than I thought but is now complete though there will no doubt be more to do once nacelles etc are attached.
The first decision was to add brass pins to reinforce the joins (A), across the wing gap of about 6mm.
I couldn't position these in the central section of the wing because of the fuel tank in the outer section (above) and the wheel well in the inner wing (below). What's also obvious in the photo, above, is the tiny amount of protruding spar that is supposed to make the secure join.
For me, this was a crucial moment of the build because, if the connection wasn't solid enough or the dihedral was off on either wing, the build would be seriously compromised. So, as you can imagine, I took my time over this, checking and rechecking the fit. So, came the moment when I had to commit.
Having carefully measured the dihedral on both wings on a flat surface I first positioned the starboard wing and carefully propped up the wingtip to the correct dihedral before using a combination of contact adhesive on the points of contact and, when set, the capillary action of very thin cyanoacrylate to reinforce the joins. This was left overnight to cure and wasn't touched until the next day.
The jigs were gently removed and apart from a slight sag of about 1mm, the wing held the correct dihedral. The same process was applied to the port wing and both were again left overnight. The pegs were to keep the trailing edges aligned and the jig at the rear was to prevent the aircraft rolling off the props.
This next photo gives a better idea of the dihedral angle, which is about 5 degrees.
So, after the props were removed I was much relieved to see that both wings retained a uniform dihedral.
I then started test fitting the wing top cowlings and the front cowling section. Then the fiddly job of bridging the gaps in the wings with short (5-6mm) lengths of stringer – still to be completed – before final skinning strips are applied.
The other job tackled in this stage of the build was applying the underwing cowlings. These proved tricky enough to shape to the wing contours and required some sanding and filling to make a tight join, as can be seen.
I also patched a cutaway in the port front section because it was showing only the back of consoles and wiring, hence the Frankenstein reference earlier.
I'm confident that a coat of primer will blend everything eventually as well as showing areas that need a little more work.
From here I want to spend a little more time on the wings, adding the ailerons, re-attaching the missing dropped flaps, adding the wing cowling covers and, of course, finishing stringing and skinning the wing gaps both top and bottom. After that, the nose section will be skinned and attached.
So, more when I make that further progress.
Gerry