Pre-Cover Inspection

[skip]

The new wings for N34237 are all together and ready for cover. Since these have new spars and everything was brought back to new condition to the best of my ability, I wanted to find those two or three (or four or five or...) paces where I got something a little off and I would have to start over. So after the A&P and the IA had blessed the wings as ready to cover, I hoisted them up onto my wing stands and bolted them all together. The root fittings slipped into the fuselage fittings nicely. The struts all fit. I pre-rigged the washout so that the struts are properly set and I hooked up the new aileron cables and wiggled all the moving parts. I still can't believe that I got it all fitting correctly!

My only problem is that it looks almost too good to cover.



Skip Egdorf
TF #895
BC12D-4-85 N34237 SN 7700

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Very Nice!
So maybe you can get an STC to cover it with clear plastic film?

[M Towsley]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Clear Monokote!

[Bird]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Dang that almost looks like the picture that sold me on mine, but I still have a lot of work to do

[Robert Lees]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Skip,

A very wise move to test the wing fit before covering. I thought to cover my wings with kitchen cling-film, but my local airworthiness chap thought that the insurance company might dispute any claim on test flight!

But I do agree that the uncovered wings look lovely!



Please do keep us all updated with your progress.

Rob

[Bob Waldron]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Skip,

That is a beautiful photo. Congratulations.

One thing that you may want to do at this time (prior to covering) is get a seven foot piece of clear film (saran wrap?) and have someone help you stretch that film over different parts of the structure. In the right light, this will show any bumps and warts that will REALLY show in your covering job. Warts are a LOT easier to fix at this stage, than after covering.

Congratulations. Looks great.

[waltermrich]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

[I have been looking for awhile for a print of the wings with dimentions of the spars, location of the various holes for struts attachment and other dimentions has any one come across such a print?

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

There have been several drawings of the placement of the access holes, but they may NOT be where you actually want them. It is better to locate the exact locations now on your wing than to use measurements from an old drawing that end up placing the covers right on top of the spar instead of below the aileron bellcrank where you need it. A couple of inches can make a BIG difference.
Whatever drawing you use (one should be posted fairly soon) make sure you put an access hole at the tip close to the wing tip light location if you will ever have one, one where the pitot lines go into the left wing (seems to get forgotten fairly ofter) and make SURE you can reach the line to route it through the hole in the fabric to hook the tubes up! Again, kind of useless if the cover ends up centered on the spar or worse on the WRONG SIDE of the spar! Before you cover, some planes have a piece of the very thin wall clear or PVC plastic tube inside the wing from the root to the the jury strut access, and then from the jury strut to the tip so the pitot lines and wires for the lights can be easily routed after the covering is on. To pull a line through you just need to hook a shop vac to the end of the tube and feed a thread into the plastic tube. The vac will suck the thread through (dental floss works great). You then just tie the wires or new pitot line to the thread and pull them through. REALLY saves a LOT of work later!
The regular covers seem to be where the drag and anti-drag wired terminate so you can inspect them and if you have a wing tank there are a couple near them so you can get up there to look around with a mirror. Once someone posts the drawing we can tell you what each hole is supposed to give access to.

Hank

[Dalton]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

The new wings for N34237 are all together and ready for cover. Since these have new spars and everything was brought back to new condition to the best of my ability, I wanted to find those two or three (or four or five or...) paces where I got something a little off and I would have to start over. So after the A&P and the IA had blessed the wings as ready to cover, I hoisted them up onto my wing stands and bolted them all together. The root fittings slipped into the fuselage fittings nicely. The struts all fit. I pre-rigged the washout so that the struts are properly set and I hooked up the new aileron cables and wiggled all the moving parts. I still can't believe that I got it all fitting correctly!

My only problem is that it looks almost too good to cover.



Skip Egdorf
TF #895
BC12D-4-85 N34237 SN 7700

Hi Skip,I'm recovering a set of wings myself and i'm wondering where to get the nails for the rib attachment can you point me in the right direction ?

[skip]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Hi Skip,I'm recovering a set of wings myself and i'm wondering where to get the nails for the rib attachment can you point me in the right direction ?

You want AN301 cement-coated nails.
There are various wire-gauge sizes: AN301-16 is 16 gauge, AN301-20 is 20 gauge, etc.
Then there is length similar to bolts: AN301-20-4 is 1/2" long, AN301-20-5 is 5/8", etc.
I couldn't find original data for the nails used, but looking at my old nails, I used AN301-20-5s as the best fit.
They are available from Aircraft Spruce, Wicks, and other AN hardware suppliers.

I didn't buy mine because someone at my airport had purchased a pound of each of several sizes for another project and ended up with a little under 10000 nails in each pound. So order accordingly.

Skip

[Dalton]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

You want AN301 cement-coated nails.
There are various wire-gauge sizes: AN301-16 is 16 gauge, AN301-20 is 20 gauge, etc.
Then there is length similar to bolts: AN301-20-4 is 1/2" long, AN301-20-5 is 5/8", etc.
I couldn't find original data for the nails used, but looking at my old nails, I used AN301-20-5s as the best fit.
They are available from Aircraft Spruce, Wicks, and other AN hardware suppliers.

I didn't buy mine because someone at my airport had purchased a pound of each of several sizes for another project and ended up with a little under 10000 nails in each pound. So order accordingly.

Skip

Thanks Skip,also wondering about nail placement,did you put nails on both sides of each spar ? that was how mine were when I disassembled them.I have done several aeronca wings and they were nailed on one side only.

[Ray36048]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

The Aeronca used much larger diameter nails than the Taylorcraft. The Aeronca and Citabria have major problems with the nails. Don't even consider the nails they used.

Taylorcraft nails. When I took my wings apart, I found the nails are 19 gauge. These are larger in diameter than the 20 ga from Spruce. At that time, I called the factory in TX. I wanted to buy nails from them. They said they did not have any in stock. This is because they bought them at a local hardware store, as needed. Sure enough, you can buy 19 ga nails of various lengths at the hardware store. But, they are neither plated or cement coated. I really don't know if Taylorcarft used AN nails or not.

I did find Univair sells nails for the Piper J-3. These are 19 gauge. But, they only have one length and it is not the same as Taylorcraft. I talked with a friend of mine who is very experienced in rebuilding J-3's. He told me the practice was to use the 20 ga nails from Spruce and use 2 more per rib. That is what I did.

Yes, Taylorcraft ribs are nailed on both sides.

[Dalton]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Ray,thanks for the info.I'm ordering some today from Spruce

[skip]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Thanks Skip,also wondering about nail placement,did you put nails on both sides of each spar ? that was how mine were when I disassembled them.I have done several aeronca wings and they were nailed on one side only.

My nails were on both sides of the spar both front and back. There were four nails on both front and back rib flanges on the front spar and three nails on both front and back rib flanges on the rear spar. When I dismantled, I used a chisel with a v-groove ground in as a mini pry bar to lift all the nails. The nails leave a little crater of aluminium splinters pushed back into the wood on the back of the rib flanges like a little bullet hole. As I was building new spars, I didn't mind scraping the old ones up as the ribs were removed. If you are re-using your spars, you need to put a flat spatula or something between the rib flange and the spar and tap the little nail craters flat so the spar doesn't get scratched up. I did some of this to help get the ribs off and then did a thorough job of flattening the holes as part of the rib preparation. This flattens out the holes and lets the new nails hold very well. To reassemble, I slid the ribs on the spars, cleco'ed the leading and trailing edges on with the old screw holes to get everything aligned, and then nailed through the original nail holes with the new nails. They are nice and tight.

As a note, I found maybe 5% - 10% of the old nails had backed out a little over time leaving the rib flanges loose in places.

Skip

[astjp2]

Re: Pre-Cover Inspection

Go with the Aeronca ring shank nails, they hold much better than the cemented nails. The cemented ones seem to come loose where the ring shank don't. Tim

You want AN301 cement-coated nails.
There are various wire-gauge sizes: AN301-16 is 16 gauge, AN301-20 is 20 gauge, etc.
Then there is length similar to bolts: AN301-20-4 is 1/2" long, AN301-20-5 is 5/8", etc.
I couldn't find original data for the nails used, but looking at my old nails, I used AN301-20-5s as the best fit.
They are available from Aircraft Spruce, Wicks, and other AN hardware suppliers.

I didn't buy mine because someone at my airport had purchased a pound of each of several sizes for another project and ended up with a little under 10000 nails in each pound. So order accordingly.

Skip