don january
Well-Known Member
For those builders who are considering building with wood you should in some areas be ready to build twice as in the rudder and elevator of a Taylor mono plane. After the main structure is built per plans you are in a spot of do I go for smooth lines or just let the fabric lay as it may. I have chosen to try and level all plains out to get a smooth clean airflow so I in a way have to build the structure twice and if a person was to know this it could be done with the first pass of the construction but would be rather tricky with the support gussets being glued in place. I think with a good program and pre -cut parts it would be not to much of a challenge but in this case you don't have a kit to build from. I have started the process of filling the low areas of the elevator as I did the rudder with good Balsa. A person needs to remember that the strength of the part is built into the first part of the build with aircraft grade wood and per plans and the balsa is a helper in strength but is mainly just for shaping and unfortunately adding some weight. I pre-cut the balsa needed for the filling of the rudder and weighed them and it added 6 ounces of wood to the rudder not including glue but at a estimated 7-8 oz. gain in total weight I believe it is well worth the extra work and strength not to mention the finished product looks once covered. One great thing I find in a wood aircraft build is your not limited in how high/wide you can go with the wood as long as you start the part according to plans. I usually just post My plane build in project logs but it is nice to hear comments from fellow members of the Forum so I got my head gear and knee and elbow pads on ready to hear from you all.