Comet
Sailplane Project
Before I started laying out the wing's right
inner panel, I soaked and preformed the 5/16" X 3/4" leading edge to avoid
the potential distortion problem I had on the left inner panel. The inner
most rib near the root of the panel was aligned over the plans such that the
spars were over the spars drawn on the plans and it was glued in place (the
rib on the right below). Then the four spars were slid through this rib and
down to the outer most rib, which was also slid onto the spars and glued in
place.
The four spars were backed out and the second
from the outer most rib was slid onto the spars. The spars were reinserted
through the outer most rib and the second to the most rib was sanded and
fitted where necessary and glued in place. This process was continued from
the outer most rib moving inboard. The picture below shows all of the inner
panel ribs glued in place.
In this close up of the rib joints with the
leading edge, you can see how each rib had to be extended approximately
1/16" to fit the wing planform on the plan.
In this close up of the rib joints with the
Trailing edge, you can see how the trailing edge was notched for the rib
insertions.
The four spars were inserted through the right
inner panel rib cut outs, positioned, and then clamped to the tip panel
spars. Each rib was carefully aligned with each spar over the plan to get
them all straight and then they were glued in place as shown below.
Even though I had preformed the leading edge, I
cut, fitted, and glued in place the eight inner panel diagonals of the
Warren Truss as shown below.
This close up shows the full spar depth
3/32" diagonals. These really stiffens up the inner panel structure.
The last effort was to add the 1/16" extensions
to all of the sub ribs, custom fit them, and then glue them in place as
shown below..........................Tandy
