Thursday 16 February 2017

Omega ~ Progress Report


This is the package of wood etc. I ordered from Slec.


From this I start to build a kit, from which I can subsequently build an aeroplane!
First the ribs; a great way to use up odd scraps of 1/16 inch balsa. Count the ribs carefully off the plan and sandwich the right number between ply templates:
 Then double-check the number before carving and sanding ribs to shape like so:
Here are one wing's worth:
And here are the ribs for both wings bundled up with additional ply root ribs slotted for the wing joiner:


The next job will be making the aluminium/ply/balsa wing joiner...

Cheers, Russell H
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4 comments:

  1. SteveH17 February 2017 at 10:43

    I always wondered what the best way was to cut wing ribs. Now I know :0)

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  2. Bob P17 February 2017 at 17:46

    Looking good Russel, I enjoy building the wings more than any other part but I lack the patience to accurately cut the ribs. A while back I bought a cheapo Chinese laser cutter, which is why Im now into building model planes. I also ordered my balsa from SLEC, they seem to be a good company.

    Here is a clip of the "Little Plank" ribs
    Laser cut ribs

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    Replies
    1. Russell H18 February 2017 at 21:17

      That's a pretty nifty cutter. I can see it's fine for one rib size (parallel chord), would it cope with tapered wings when there are only two templates on the plan?

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  3. Bob P19 February 2017 at 16:09

    Yes it's a parallel chord wing, I see what you mean by only having two templates, there are programs that will calculate all the ribs in between and you can set cutouts for the spars, I think I have used Profili before, it's free to a certain point, some limitations when printing to paper but as long as it shows the rib profile on the screen, I take a screen grab and size it in the cutting program then straight to the laser cutter.

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