Building the wing struts:
This Telemaster, like the ones before it, has functioning wing struts. One of the complaints about the struts on the previous version of the giant Tele is that they came apart in flight from time to time due to their built-up construction. Needless to say the results of this failure were not positive.
The new kit features profiled aluminum tubes for the struts, with polycarbonate end brackets. These brackets are epoxied and screwed to the tubes so they won't pull out.
- The first step in building the struts is to clean up the polycarbonate parts and give them a light sanding so the epoxy adheres better. The brackets have holes in them so the epoxy can bond through them.
- There is a single bracket used to mount the struts to the fuselage. This is installed first. I used JB Weld to epoxy the strut tubes to the bracket.
- After the epoxy had cured the wings were mounted on the fuselage (she's a big bird!) so that the wing brackets could be installed. I had to cut 1/2" off the front strut as it hit the wing rib when in position. Once this was done the wing-end brackets were installed without glue and the strut installed on the wing. This give the proper seating depth of the wing-end bracket in the strut tube.
- The wing-end brackets were then epoxied in place. I mounted the struts back on the plane while the epoxy cured to make sure the brackets didn't move.
- Once the assembly had cured it was removed from the plane. The instructions say to drill a hole and install a small wood screw to act as an additional stop to prevent the bracket from pulling out of the wing. I went with a 4-40 bolt and nylock nut in place of the screw. In drilling the holes for the bolts I was relieved to see that there was epoxy in the filings as getting the epoxy down into the strut was a bit of a chore.
Of note is the fact that the struts are basically interchangeable as they are the same length. This means (hopefully) that the wings are identical as well!
Next up - sanding out in preparation for covering...
