I hear and heed all the warnings about build to the plans, but I am also as curious as I am ignorant about many things in the engineering realm. What I am looking for is some ways to start thinking abut things as a newbie builder. I can hack through Raymer's book, but don't know how to use Evan's for instance. So here is my question. In the Ragwing stork plans, one piece is a center section spar. It is a solid piece of spruce roughly 26"x8"x3/4" and it is faced on both sides with 1/8 aircraft ply. If you were to swap the ply for carbon, is there a way for me to calculate the resulting structure without taking an undergrad in engineering?
