nohoflyer

nohoflyer

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The instructions have you put the wings on first and only remove them if you’re space limited. but I’ve seen lots of builders get the legs and wheels first. This makes more sense since it would be lighter to lift the plane without wings to put the legs in position.


Thoughts?
 
Brantel said:
Gear, once you put the wings on, traveling around the airplane becomes a chore! Fit the wings and then remove them.
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Same. I put it on the gear first. You have to remove the wings once to do all the root work once you have marked everything out. Put the wings on for final install when everything else you can do is completed.
 
Fitting my wings will be darn near the last thing I do. I prefer to do both at the same time and just wont have the space to do that until I'm at a hangar.
 
The fuselage needs to be level in order to set the sweep and incidence on the wings. It seemed to me that would be easier to achieve with it still on a fuselage cart rather than bouncing around on the gear

I installed the wings with the fuselage still on the cart in my 3 car garage with hardware store bolts, did all the required adjustments and match drilling, then took them back off. It went on its feet at some point after that.

It't not hard for a couple of guys to knock out in a day.
 
It's a lot easier to fit the wings while the fuselage is on blocks and low to the ground. Then pull them off and continue building. You do not need to install all the wing bolts when fitting the wings, I only used the four AN4 bolts during the fit. The outermost and inner most bolts on each side. The four large close tolerance bolt holes were tested to make sure that they lined up properly, but bolts not installed during the fit. Once I was ready, the gear mounts were installed and gear installed. When ready, the wings were put in permanently without a problem.wingson3.JPGTherebewings3.JPG
 
How is there any tolerance to adjust the wing incidence when huge bolts hold it in place? This whole process seems counter intuitive.
 
When you fit the wing, you are ensuring that the incidence and the sweep is correct. This makes sure that the wings are perpendicular to the centerline of the fuselage and that they do not sweep forward or aft. The trailing edges of the wings are also set in plane. The aft spar is the area that is drilled and bolted to maintain this position. There isn't a lot of movement to be made, but it is critical for straight and level flight. You will be surprised how much a little movement at the spar changes how far the wings can sweep at the tip.
 
The spar's pretty hefty, and resists bending in the vertical direction very well. However you'll find the short section without the ribs and skins surrounding it does allow for some torsional adjustment to set the incidence, and some fore/aft bending for the sweep. It doesn't really take much, you're talking about max 1/8" of movement all the way back at the rear spar attach.

You may even find that with the spar holes bolted, the natural resting position is pretty much spot on, but of course the plans have you verify and adjust before drilling.
 
Any issues with just waiting to set the incidence and install at same time (towards end)?

I saw the post about bouncing on the wheels btw.
 
Another thing to remember is the fuselage needs to be level, both fore and aft and side to side, when setting the wing sweep and incidence. Marks on your floor, tape measures, plumb bobs, and levels are used to ensure accuracy. This is more difficult to do with a plane that has to be raised up high enough to get it off the gear and level. When building these airplanes, there are many things that get done, and redone multiple times to get it right. When you are ready to drill those locating holes for the permanent fit, you want to be sure. Aligning flight surfaces is most critical for straight and level flight.
 
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