I found some good reading that answered a bunch of my silly question about aircraft materials structures and design -
The [link=http://www.auf.asn.au/scratchbuilder/contents.html]Scratch Builders guide[/link] furnished by Recreational Aviation Australia Inc. Unfortunately, the site seems to be down half the time.

Note: Chapter 12 of the Scratch Builders guide makes reference to FAA publication AC 43.13-1B Chapter 7 'Aircraft hardware, control cables, and turnbuckles' ... the URL is broken, please use the [link=http://www.auf.asn.au/constructors/AC43-ch1_1.pdf]correct URL to Chap 7 of AC43.13-1B[/link] It contains some diagrams e.g. turnbuckle safety wiring which may be of interest to some uber-scale builders.

( I also found a direct link to the entire [link=http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAdvisoryCircular.nsf/0/99C827DB9BAAC81B86256B4500596C4E?OpenDocument]AC 43.13-1B Aircraft Inspection and Repair [/link] )

Enjoy!