ORIGINAL: dash008
Someone posted in one of these build threads that if they ever built one of these again they would fill the entire area between the center ribs with balsa block because they were unsure if they were hitting the small doublers when drilling for the front dowels. Well, I wish I had done that because I am not 100% confident I hit them on both sides, and you can't really tell with the sheeting on both sides of the wing.
These pictures are driving me crazy. Why does it keep blowing them up to gargantuan size?
Dash I discarded that method of putting in wing dowels years ago for that reason!
Harry Higley has a way of building the dowels into the wing ribs that I've been using for years. I modified it a little.
Here is how I do it.
1 I make new ribs that are as thick as the dowel being used.
2 Make two side plates that match the front of the rib from the main spar forward for each dowel holding rib.
3 mark out where the dowel will go in the front of the ribs. I'll make a new dowel if necessary to go all the way back to the wing spar.
4 Cut out the slot for the dowel in the ribs.
5 Glue in the dowel.
6 Glue on the side plates.
Now you have a dowel that is 100% glued in and is perfectly strait and will not come out without taking off the front of the wing with it.
Cons 1 Hard to sand leading edge of the wing with the dowels in place. 2 Harder to glass the center section of the wing, you have to cut holes in the cloth for the dowels.
Harry Higley's books "Mostly Mounting" and "There Are No Secrets" are must haves!