Now that the main ribs are glued in place it’s time to attach the trailing edge. I’ve been scratching my head on how I was going to accurately tackle this task. The issue is that with the wash out built into the wing it can’t be done flat on the building board. The manual states to hold the trailing edge in place while you tack it with CA. That would be ok I guess, but I want to use Titebond for all my balsa-to-balsa connections. My 1st thought is to use clamps, but a quick experiment shows the trailing edge stock does not sit flat on the ribs.

The solution I come up with is to stack magnets under each rib then use playing cards as shims to create just the right amount of clearance for the trailing edge to slip in snugly. Each rib gets it’s own magnet / card stack depending how far down the wing it is. The amazing thing is that each sequential rib is about 3-4 playing cards higher than the previous one. This tells me the wash out has been built consistently into the wing.

I use a Q-tip to apply the Titebond. If there is a better method please share…

The trailing edge gets slipped under the ribs with a final wax paper shim to make sure the cards do not become a permanent part of the structure. A few card stacks get adjusted for proper tension then magnets hold the trailing edge stock firmly to the back notch of the rib. A quick glance down the trailing edge shows that everything is seated nicely and there doesn’t appear to be any warps in the trailing edge.

BTW, I didn’t sand the trailing edge side of the stock yet. I’ll wait to add the doubler then sand them together.

Oh, and I with I could take credit for coming up with the idea to use playing cards as shims while building. But that’s something I picked up from Harry Higley’s book, “Mostly Mounting”.