beaver dan

Hey there. I'm building the unionville dehavilland 8' beaver kit and I'm kind of stuck. This is my 1st kit and immediate help where I live isn't an option most of the time. Ok, I don't know where or how the rib "caps" are supposed to go. I'm also not sure what stock I'm supposed to cut them out with. It looks like an awesome kit, I'm just not up on the building skills completely. I've built the universal float kit (also from unionville) and that wasn't too difficult. Anyway, do the rib caps go vertically next to the ribs or do the ribs go on top of the rib caps?? Should I build on the plan that has the most detail for the wing or should I build on the other (Left wing) one without so much detail? Any help would be really appreciated.

Walter D

My Feedback: (16)

Rib caps (also cap strips) are cut after the wing is totally built and the appropriate sheeting applied, cap strips are cut from the supplied sheeting material or what is left over after sheeting the wings center section, leading and trailing edge, if it applies to this model, they are cut to size to fit tightly between leading and trailing sheeting and are glued to the top and bottom of the ribs, make sure the rib centers well on the strips, which for that size airplane will be about 1/4" wide, this creates a "T" shape on top and bottom of ribs, adding tremendous strength to the ribs and the entire wing. Manufacturers sometimes supply 36" long strips of balsa sheeting, either 1/8 to 1/4 width to be used as cap strips material, if not in the kit, use leftovers, make sure they are the same thickness, do not cut them all in one shot, do them one by one and use a very sharp # 11 blade, slow CA works very well as gluing material.