Majestic Wing Question

[mdiley]

I picked the Majestic as my first balsa kit after a 20 year hiatus from building. I built the first wing panel and everything seemed fine, ribs, shear webs, etc. I was relaxing last night and stumbled across a thread that talked about filling the joiner box with epoxy/microballoons. I did add a fair bit of epoxy on top of the brass wing joiner tube when I installed it (figuring it needed something heavier than CA to be secure and probably came close to filling up the area of the box above the tube, but the area of the box below the tube would only have a minimal amount, whatever ran down the sides of the tube from the top. So now I have a complete panel and am wondering how badly I've screwed up. Here are the questions:

1. How much strength does the epoxy add to the joiner box? Is it necessary given the construction (4 plywood ribs, the epoxy I put in, etc.) that I correct this mistake?

2. If I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the wing through the spar into each of the areas would I be doing more harm than good by compromising the spar? The other option would be to remove a significant amount of sheeting and drill holes in the shear webs and put the epoxy in with a syringe that way.

Finally, are there any other steps that a novice builder, like myself, will miss because they aren't referenced in the instructions? I want to build a good, strong plane, but my lack of knowledge is working against me.

Matt

[trident58]

Hi Matt,
Don't worry, you didn't screw up. The Majestic's wing is pretty damn strong. Just make sure the joiner box sides are properly bonded to the sides of the spar. If you can, try wrapping the box with kevlar thread. Use a sewing needle to poke it through the sheeting; when you pull it tight, the thread will dig into the sheeting, and then you can cover up the area with some spackle so it won't show through the covering.
Jon

[mdiley]

Thanks for the reply. I ended up wrapping the spar after removing a rectangle of sheeting above and below the spar. Hopefully that will take care of it. Anything else I should look out for?

Best regards,

Matt