My kit arrived yesterday in fine shape. The wood is VERY nice, and the plans are nicely done. This will be a nice model!

I'll be starting this build this weekend and I have a request... If you wish to comment, please wait until the build sequence is completed. That way, other builders will not have to sift through the oooooohhhs and aaaahhhs to get through their build. However, if you have a question about something that isn't clear to you, post away!

I'm at work as I type this, so no pics until this evening...

Jack Womack

Hi Jack... Look forward to your building log.
Kurt

Sweet!

I'm watchin' Too!

Uh... did you guys read the first post?

Jack,

I was wondering if, throughout your build, you could try to think of the perspective of a new builder and comment on or clarify steps that might be confusing. Experienced builders, like yourself, can easily look at the box of parts and intuitively know how it will go together, new builders rely much more on the instructions. Something as simple as mistaking a strip of balsa for a basswood spar strip could make for a doomed build. That type of feedback would help people here and would assist Mark in fine tuning the directions.

Wayne

OK Sports fans... Here it is! The wood is nice and there are lots of laser-cut parts. So, here we go, on my first 2-meter glider build...

Please remember that this is a beta build, so some of the parts may change slightly, and your kit in the future may not look exactly like this one.

And hopefully tomorrow night, I'll start the wings. This wing is undercambered, so some shimming of the trailing edge will be required, like building free-flight gliders when I was a kid...

Nice job, Mark!

Throughout this build, I will try to keep the explanations and directions aimed at the less-experienced builders in the group, as Wayne suggested.

OK gents... I had forgotten that you needed to type something in to subscribe... my apologies. Subscribe away...

I'll do this thing in sections and post an entire section at once... By doing so, we will be able to sift through to the build much easier.

Originally Posted by schrederman

OK gents... I had forgotten that you needed to type something in to subscribe... my apologies. Subscribe away...

I'll do this thing in sections and post an entire section at once... By doing so, we will be able to sift through to the build much easier.

Don't need to post to subscribe. Click "Thread Tools". Sorry for the post.

Ok, we're starting with the wings. That's where I always start.

Many of you are experienced builders and will not need the level of detail that I am going to provide. Many out there in IP Land need a lot of help, so I'm going to make this as detailed as possible for their sakes.

I am starting at the tip panels and the first thing I noticed is how deeply notched the trailing edge is. Also, there is a 5-degree angle forward sweep in the trailing edge, so these notches have to be cut on that same angle. The ribs are 3/32" balsa so the notches have to be the correct width... what to do!?!?

I made a template for marking the trailing edge so I could have accurate rib notches. However, we'll do this a different way for the main panels... more on that later.

Here's what the template and trailing edge look like...

Jack,

Does the kerf of the saw take out the 3/32" or do you need 2 parallel cuts? Do you have a pic of your saw? Do you free-hand the cuts or use a jig? (just a little more info for any newbies, or oldbies - ). Thanks.

The slot requires 2 cuts. After the first one, you need to be careful with the second to keep it accurate, because the blade wants to drift toward the first kerf. I use the jig to mark the cuts and I mark them deeply enough to show any inaccuracies in the slot. I have a flat, fine rasp that is only 1/16" thick. It allows me to clean up the slots for a perfect fit. Trying to use the jig with the saw would wear out the jig quickly, and the slots would get wider with each pass.

Just an FYI for you all.... the reason for the deep slots is that the rear of this airfoil is quite thin. In the prototypes I used 3/4" TE stock and things were to flimsy back there. I left the ribs the same but went to 1" TE stock with optional scallops on the version Jack is building. It should add a lot to the structure back there.

Mark

FYI... I have a really bad cold right now. I won't be doing much on the Duet until I feel better. That's probably gonna be next week... Sorry...