Hello all,
For what it is worth I have taken pics during the modding of the other wing of my current Falcon build. The wings have been stripped of their film and will be fully sheeted before recovering.
As well as the strengthening of the UC mounts I have raked them forward far enough to allow the use of the 12kg trailing arm nose strut from HobbyKing. These work very well once the springs are upgraded (from the shop they both collapse fully under the weight of my 7.5kg Falcon) So, here goes.
First step was to mark out where the covering is to removed to carry out the mods.
Remove the balsa skin and then remove the old bearers. This is very easy to do by grabbing with pointy nose pliers and wriggling
Cut away the ribs to allow the new bearers to be angled forward. 25mm x 12.5mm (1" x 1/2") bearers extended out to join 4 ribs.
Cut and epoxy gussets to seat new bearers. 6mm (1/4") hardwood.
Epoxy in the new bearers and when dry, cut and epoxy vertical gussets.
We modified the removed balsa skins to make up a set of templates to use when fabricating new ply skins.
Epoxy the ply back into place.
That is it. I will do the final trimming of the cutouts when the gear is fitted.
This is the third set of wings done this way and none have had a retract torn out once modified this way. If you are using straight struts instead of trailing arm then omit the raking forward on the UC bearers.
I hope this has been of some use.
Thanks for the use of your workshop and tools Patrick.
Col