Frank's Stinson Voyager 50" span- Death by 100 sticks.... no stones!

[piker]

Lookin' great, Frank.

Ya gotta love a fuselage with stringers.

Robert

[Frank v B]

Thank you Mr. Piker.  I know you love building with sticks. 

Built the starboard wing.  Will let it dry overnight. (No I did not use 5 minute epoxy.  Carpenter's Glue.)

Note the wing center section over the fuselage is flat with the dihedral joint at each fuse side.

The flat sheets between the ribs near the tips are the two wing strut anchor points and the aileron servo mount.

Frank

[sihinch]

I love reading this Frank. 

One of my 2020 objectives is to build a plane with balsa.  Maybe I just finish my little EE. Lightning!   

[davidk]

@sihinch, I've been thinking exactly the same.  I love these step by step posted projects like @bweaver and @Frank v B ... they are inspiring.  I'm not sure I'll start with just "sticks".  Maybe a pre-cut kit is ok for a first go. 

[Frank v B]

David,

If you want to build with sticks, get a laser cut kit and save about half the aggravation.  Laser cut is much better than the old "die-crushed" or "You cut'm yourself you lazy-ass" balsa kits

I believe the new Guillow's and Dumas kits are laser cut.

Frank

[Frank v B]

...back to building.... the wing center section.

When a wing has dihedral I always build the second half onto the first half so there is no problem with the angle of the ribs, leading and trailing edge alignment at the dihedral joint.  Most kits supply a gauge to set the rib angle but..... not this one. 

The wing's center section is flat for the width of the fuselage and the dihedral joint at the side of the fuselage, not the middle.

The photo shows the wing with the plywood dihedral joint, rib doubler and center section all pinned in place with.... 5 minute epoxy.  What else did you think?

When this is dry, I will build the port (left) wing onto the center section with the starboard wing raised the proper amount.

There were two major errors in the plan.
i) the dihedral angle is shown as 2.25" under each wing tip.  It is actually the total dihedral or 1 1/8" under each wing tip. Confirmed by the plywood center brace angle.
ii) the plan shows a single rib at each dihedral joint with a double rib in the very center where there is no dihedral joint.  Duh!

This is clearly a DWI* plan.

Frank

* two definitions   i) "Drawn While under the Influence" or "Deal With It" 

Frank

[Frank v B]

Left wing mostly done.  Still needs to have the leading edge installed.

Photo 38- shows the wing tip details.  Note that I leave the pieces long and high.  Will sand them afterwards.
photo 39- shows the left wing panel pinned down.  The center section and wing tip are raised for the proper dihedral angle.

Frank

[Frank v B]

So the plans say the leading edge needs to be sheeted with 1/16 balsa. It seemed odd to have it sit in air.  It is usually attached to an upper spar.  What upper spar? Install shear webs but attached to what?

- there was no cut in the printed ribs for a top spar
- none was shown on the side view of the fuse/wing.

All it said was "see detail B" (See photo 41).  It showed a 1/8" square top spar!!! The knife* is pointing to it.   WTF!!!

How to retrofit a top spar.
- used a 24" metal ruler to make cut marks across the ribs
- used a piece of 3/16" square (upgrade from 1/8") to make each individual slot for depth and width.  See photo 42.
- glued in the 3/16" square spar. See photo 43.

Built the fin and rudder as well.  Changed the design to strengthen the grain at the top and the bottom of the rudder.  The plans want you to cut it out of a single piece of 1/8" balsa.  So wrong!  See photo 44.

Frank

* in case you are wondering about the green tape on the knife- to stop it from rolling onto the floor without affecting the grip.

[davidk]

I'm liking this one... there's almost more questions than answers.

[Frank v B]

David, start asking questions!


Sheeting the centre section with 1/16 balsa.  Notice the wing is pinned to the board.  You gotta start straight to finish straight.

Frank

[davidk]

I meant that you're asking the questions and being presented with a number of challenges.

[Frank v B]

David,

OK.  The object is to have at least 1 answer for every question.

Decided to sheet the entire center section, not just the leading edge.  Sheeting the starboard leading edge.
I put a 3/16" scrap piece of balsa under the trailing edge of the wingtip for wash-out.  This wing is so tender the wash-out can be added at the covering stage.

Frank

[Frank v B]

The top of the wing (LE) sheeting and center section sheeting is finished.

All the shear webs have been installed (vertical 1/16 grain balsa between the upper and lower spar).

Off to dinner (drying time).

Cap strips are next.

Frank

[Frank v B]

Cap strips done.  1/4" x 1/16" glued on top of the ribs.

[Frank v B]

How to add ailerons to a 3 channel wing.

1) Pin the wing to the building board, draw the aileron on the trailing edge and the ribs affected.
2) Make the first cut 3/32 uphill from the aileron edge so we can add the wing's new trailing edge ahead of the aileron.  Photo 52
3) Glue in 3/32" hard balsa vertically into the slot.  This creates the aileron bay in the wing.  This goes rib to rib, wider than the finished aileron size. Photo 53, 54.
4) remove the small rib portions of the ailerons and number them (1,2,3) Photo 55, 56
5) make the aileron wing bay edges from scrap balsa and glue them in place. Photo 56 (left and right edges glued in place.)
6) insert balsa that becomes the leading edge of the aileron on an angle. Photo 57
7) angle-sand the small section of rib and glue them in place. Photo 58

Note 2 things:
i) the balsa sticks up above the wing.  This will be sanded flat once the glue dries.
ii) the trailing edge of the wing (and aileron) has not been cut yet.  This will be done after sanding so the edge will be precise during the building and sanding of the ailerons.

I forgot the most important thing: Make one aileron to completion before starting the second one.  Copy what you did on the first one so it will be symmetrical.  rule: If you make all mistakes symmetrically the plane will fly fine.  Do not work at both ailerons at the same time.

Frank