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Widening a Corben Jr Ace.

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Tench745

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2018
Messages
72
Location
Syracuse, NY
I have asked these questions in one form or another in multiple places. I'm asking again here in hopes that some of the more experienced members can give me some solid direction.

Setting the stage:
For a number of reasons, I bought plans for and started building a Corben Jr Ace.
The Corben Jr Ace is 33 1/8" between tubing centerlines in the cockpit. At that width it is considered very narrow for the 2-seater it's supposed to be. My dad and I, who have pretty narrow hips, just managed to squeeze into a standard width Jr Ace, but closing the door was hard. By contrast, the Pober Jr Ace is 39" between centerlines but, as I understand it, is a different aircraft in many construction aspects. I would be interested in looking over the plans for one and seeing what exactly is different, but that's not the focus of this thread. I'm mostly mentioning it to avoid confusion, and clarify that while I am aware of the design, it's not the airplane I am building.

Widening the Corben Jr has been done before. I am aware of at least one built to 36" wide. The owner of that aircraft suggested adding another couple inches to the width would make it a more comfortable 2-seater. Finding succinct/specific information about the changes that were made when widening the aircraft has been a frustrating, largely fruitless endeavor for me up til now. I know I could just make the cross-tubes any length I want and call it wider, but I don't know how wide I can push that without needing to up wall thickness, or tubing size, modify the gear geometry, etc.

I know changing the width will snowball into a number of additional changes to systems and parts just to make them work with the new geometry.
For that reason I will be building a mock-up to test whether a wider fuselage is even necessary for my wife and I to fit and to experiment with the comfort of different widths.
I have already come to terms with the fact that I might just be building a wide single-seater. Nonetheless, I want to do my due diligence and explore the option of widening before I write it off entirely.

So, here are the questions:
1) Does anyone have experience widening a Jr Ace, or another similar aircraft?
1A) If so, how much was it widened and what structural changes were necessary?​
2) If I wanted a professional to do a structural analysis of the changes, how would I go about finding one, and what might that analysis cost?
3) To reduce the effect widening the fuselage would have on the wing/struts, it would make sense (to me) to widen the top of the cabane structure the same amount as the fuselage. I can better explain this idea if anyone wants to explore it with me.
3A) What would be the best way of accomplishing that?​
3B) Is widening the cabane to preserve geometry worth the effort, or is it easier to adjust the wing struts, aileron cables, and anything else that will change relation to the wider fuselage?​
 
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