I am building a Scale P-38 and i want to make the wing into 3 sections so that i can transport it to the feild and attach it with a metal tube as a wing spar and a dowel in the front and the back to prevent wing twist. i just have 2 question, how do i keep the wing attached to each other (bolts.... ect) and the second is, the plans that i am building from do not have this set up and so the wing isnt built up for it, What kind of building in the wing do i have to do inorder to make is strong enought, is it just a matter of drilling holes in the wing ribs or dose it need to be as strong as making metal channels in the wing or somewhere in middle. Thanks Mike.

Mike,

I am hardly an expert but I have been assembling a VQ P-61 ARC that comes with the setup you describe- a built-up balsa wing with wing tubes and dowels outboard of the booms.

My P-61 has a sleeve that the wing tube fits into glued into holes that are cut into the ribs. The wing has clearance holes for screws drilled through the bottom of the wing and through the sleeve. With the wing assembled and the tube fitted into the sleeve then you drill into the tube through the clearance holes and install sheet metal screws. The screws hold the tube in place within the sleeve. There are four screw holes per tube, two on each side of the joint. The clearance holes through the wing are reinforced- either with hardwood or some sort of insert (I don't remember which). To remove the wing tip you remove the screws from the bottom of the wing and then the tube slides out of the sleeve.

The sleeves are closed on the ends and the tube length is exactly matched so that it can't move back and forth with the wing fitted up snugly.

Being an ARC I don't have exact construction details. But it looks like a conventional design wing (spars/ribs/balsa sheeting) and the ribs are just drilled out for the sleeve which is glued in place. If I were scratch building I would probably use some ply doublers on the ribs at the wing sleeves.

The wood dowels at the front and back are just like those used to attach a removable wing to the fuse. Make sure that there is enough wood to keep the dowels secure.

If you search around you should be able to find matching wing tubes and sleeves for sale. The fit has to be very snug in order to keep the wing solid.

I hope this helps some.

Walt

When you layout the ribs for the wing tube & socket holes, make the holes oversize. You can then cut "washers from plywood that are a good fit to the tube & socket. Then when you put the wing sections together, & line them up, just glue the "washers" to rib in the exact location the socket & tube fits.
Aluminium tubes and sockets are available from TNT : http://www.tntlandinggear.com/
and Gator R/C: http://www.gatorrc.com/

The wing tube socket is best placed between the spars and attached to the spars via Shear Webbing

Whats Shear webbing??? Mike