F21A vs post war craft

[EXPlanes]

Although the F21A has two 20 gallon wing tanks and no nose tank, the F21A and the post war Tcrafts wings have some parts in common and others modified. Here are a few that might be interesting. When rebuilding my 21A wings I used 1946 stamped ribs along with repairing some of the 21A ribs. The repair parts were also earlier Tcraft rib parts. The F21A main spar is 6in x 3/4in thick and the rear spar is 4 3/8in x 5/8in thick. The ribs assembled nicely when centered and the compression struts were easily shimmed to fit. From what I noticed all spar hole locations were the same between the models.

The F21A wing strut attachment fittings have a .080 4130 plate welded between the two-attachment fittings bolted to the spar as indicated in the picture. This is done for both front and rear spar attachment fittings.

The wing tanks are held in position similar to the Piper design except the 21A attachment square tubing top and bottom also acts as the wing rib airfoil. The factory design riveted the tank angles to the tubes which caused cracking of the tanks due to fatiguing the tank angles. A simple correction of sandwiching the tanks between silicone using the original tank tubing within the tank angles holds the tank firmly
when the tubes are clamped together over the spars. All of the original square tubing and spar clamps are used and are not modified. I have a bunch of stamped rib parts that I would share with anyone needing them to repair ribs for the price of shipping to your home. Send me a pic of roughly what you need and I can check my stock. I also have full stamped ribs, nose ribs and tail ribs that I would be willing to sell cheap. My inventory has a main front and rear spar along with enough full ribs to complete one wing. Email [email protected]

[Ragwing nut]

F-21 spar is 1/8" taller than bc12d. the strut attach plate can be found on F-19's and F-19 conversions. When I rebuilt our straight F-21, I used a bunch of bc12d stuff. Its basically an f-19 with a bigger engine and toe brakes.

[EXPlanes]

Yes it follows the F19 with mods that did not require millions of dollars for the feds to approve. With so few F series craft built I thought it would be interesting to inform and update other Tcraft owners what has transpired with the brand since the late 1940s and early 1950s. It also speaks highly of the T craft design completed with the data available in the 1930s and the use of slide rules rather than computers! When asked or discussing what project I am working on I say an F21A. Only one Tcraft owner to date knew what it was (short of you guys). Funniest response was they thought I was working on a new experimental jet! I think you can guess what pilot age group that response came from.