RE: Cessna 182 - Wing Struts optional??
No, they are just for looks. Your wing is one piece and bolted on to the fuselage. If you built it you know that you epoxied the two halves to a center section with hardwood joiners inserted for strength. The struts are NOT required like on a plane with plug-in wings.
Question for you: Are you able to land the plane easily.....without dropping a wing......or at a reasonable speed? My first and only landing resulted a dropped wing from about 5 feet which resulted in a slightly damaged nose wheel pant and bent nose gear. I had 1/2 flaps deployed (my addition) so maybe it can't handle flaps!!