I've been out of R/C fora number of years and pretty much sold most of my stuff off. I did, however keep a MK Thunderbird 40 model kit which I am now starting to build as I'm getting the R/C bug again. One question. What's the best way to build a double tapered wing straight without any twist? The wing has a full symetrical airfoil but the section of the ribs from the back of the spar to the trailing edge appears to be straight (or flat). I was thinking of attaching all the ribs to the spars then tacking all the ribs to the trailing edge sheeting.

Get a wing jig. It will assure you of a straight wing

John</p>

Thanks for your reply and interest, John. I was thinking of that. I used to have a Great Planes wing jig and it required drilling holes in the ribs. Drilling the holes accurately is a task in itself at least for this kit since all the ribs are a different size, the wing being double tapered. I seem to remember that Adjusto Jig made a wing jig. I guess I ought to do a web search.

Jeeper
Thats a really rare kit you have. I'm sure no one at your field will have one. I have a 60 size MKII TBird from MK thats on the list for building. Are you thinking of a build thread? Would love to follow along.

DM

Sorry for taking so long to get back. No, I'm not considering a build thread. as of this writing, I have only gotten around to putting together the basic wing panels and joining them. I have glued on the trailng edge sheeting, landing gear mounts and sheer webs. The wing looks straight but the real test is in how much trim you have put in when you fly it.. I put the project aside for a couple weeks as I had guests. I gotta get going on it. I don't think I'll do any more to the wings until I get the fuselage built then I can properly align the wing dowels. I intend to use an OS .46SF on this plane. I think it's going to be quite overpowered as the plane is light.

Hey Aurora 60. I see your on Oahu. I'm on Kauai.

It sounds like I may be a little late in posting this, but I thought it might help for future reference... a most generous and talented Korean friend gave me a kit for a Yoshioka Flash which (I hope) is perhaps similar to an MK kit and gave me pointers on building it so maybe this info can be passed on. It is a symmetrical airfoil, tapered wing design with a straight trailing edge, although this technique should work for a swept TE as well.

Using two pieces of ~ 1" aluminum angle stock long enough to span a wing half and a flat building surface amounts to a simple wing jig. IIRC, center lines are drawn lengthwise on the inside of the LE and TE; pins may be located at multiple points between rib stations as a guide. The LE and TE are tack glued to the top of the waxed angle stock along the chord line (through the center of the airfoil). You can build right over-top of the plans or if everything is notched, just the flat surface alone.

Another technique that works very well for the fuselage is to assemble formers, firewall, and fuse sides dry; hold together with rubberbands or tape. Now place pins on the center top of all the formers and firewall, then hold L and R fuse sides in either hand and use line-of-sight to line up all the pins with one eye shut - start glueing...