RE: Sterling Stearman ?s
I'm working on my 4th. 20th Century fabric all the way, and then I'm going to fill and paint the "metal" areas. I'm using 2-56 for the flying wires, cut away most of the inside engine bearers to fit a large fuel tank and give me access to the attachment points. I used cut clevis' for the attachment points, screwed through the bulkheads. On the rear flying wires, I bent the clevis' open and am in the process of mounting the wing so I can get the right angle before I epoxy a plate over them.
I made my attachment brackets from aluminum and am through bolting them with 1-80 brass screws and nuts. Seems to be a pretty good way to do it so far. This is going to be a pain to set up at the field, so I'll probably leave it assembled and just have the charging jack and switch in the front cockpit.
I had an ASP 1.08 on the last one and it flew OK with no extra lead in the front. This one is going to get a Magnum .91 FS, so I'm going to have to work out cutting the firewall open more to let the carb go inside the front of the fuse and the needle valve stick out somewhere.
I agree with lightening the tail up, and then using functional wires to stiffen it. Too bad the rear isn't scale. It'd be a lot simpler to do the tailwheel and wire attachments.