shd3920

To help ease my mind and try to get my life together again, I began building the last gift my dear deceased friend and boss bought for my past birthday - a Sig Somethin' Extra. I have the fuselage, tail surfaces and left wing panel built. When I slide the panel into the fuselage I notice a gap in the rear and front of the panel about 3/32" from where it meets the fuselage. The center of the panel lies flat against the fuse. I thought I was careful when I glued the end root rib in place but apparently there must have been a warp or something I didn't notice. What is the best way to fix this without sanding to the point of being too thin at the wing's root end?

To those wondering, I know you will think I am wrong, but I am still not ready to fly my trainers yet (either emotionally or financially) as that is something me and my friend wanted to share together and almost a month after his passing I am still devastated and trying to scrape by. I am, however, flying my electric-converted Gentle Lady glider which doesn't need an instructor to learn. It is fun yes, but still emotionally distraught.

Thank you for whatever answers are provided.

Insanemoondoggie

Hey Tigerdude, You could glue some balsa sheeting in the gap on the wing then sand to fit.
I`ve lost some good people , to many, but I find as time goes on, when I think of them the grief has been replaced by good memories and fond thoughts. It just takes time.
The best way to honor his death is to enjoy your life and remeber him for the good friend he was.
And No, don`t you dare fly that SSE till you got that trainer down, or it will look like this. lol

Mr67Stang

Hey Tiger, glad to see you at it! Building is the best part of this hobby but that's a secret so don't let it out. Even my ARF of the SSE has some gap at the trailing edge so I would say your plane would perform fine as is BUUTT... You have the oportunity to correct it. I would trace the root rib and make 2 coppies one for each wing and epoxy them to the existing root ribs and block sand flat, attempting to get the same length out of each wing half. But if anyone comes out to measure the 1/100th inch difference you may have... kick them in the shin

I am sure there are other ways to do it so wait untill you get some other sudjestions before doing anything perminent.

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

tigerdude426 - here's what I did to ensure those inside root ribs were flush against the fuselage. Built both wing halves but left the inner ply root rib off. Built the fuselage. Glued on one ply root rib at a time.... to do this, install your wing tube and dowel in the fuselage and then punch holes in a piece of wax paper and place this on the first side you're gluing the rib(will keep any glue from getting on the fuselage). Put glue on the face of the root rib and mount root rib on the wing. Quickly mount this wing on the fuselage and then put the other wing on(no glue). Stand the plane on end and put a little weight on the top wing to hold the wing flush against the fuselage. Next, insert toothpicks where there is a gap between the fuselage and the root rib to flex the rib towards the fuselage to close this gap. Wick in ambroid glue or thick CA to act as a filler to hold this position. Once the glue dries the root rib will be flush against the fuselage. Repeat for other wing half. Fill the rest of the gaps as required with filler.



Post in my SSE build thread.

In your case, you could build another root rib and install it in this fashion. Don't imagine it would mess with the plane's characteristics much.

Hope this helps.

somegeek

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

here's a tip for removing the gap take some light ply, 1/16 will do, trace the wing root rib out for both sides, after you have done this slide wing tube in wing then apply small amount of vasoline at the connection area mix epoxy with some micro balloons to use as a glue and filler.
slide ply rib on the wing tube after applying epoxy mix.
before you slide wing into fuse take wax paper and protect fuse from epoxy so you dont glue the wing to the fuse.
then slide wing into fuse and allow to dry,holding the wing with some tape so the wing has a nice tight fit you should spin the wing tube so it doesn't become glued also.
as well as being carefull at the wing alignment pins you don't have to glue everything at once the final filling and finishing can be done after the first step and the wing is separate from the fuse.
a fast dry epoxy works best but 30 min. works also,its a little runny so you should use allot of the micro balloons, so the epoxy is like a fluffy paste.
when dry remove wing and fill any extra gap with more micro balloon epoxy mix and sand smooth.
repeat for other side.