Originally Posted by Glauco

Hi JT, I kind of noticed at many Nats now that patience is not something usually associated to your name

Thats why I'm on the flightline, and not somewhere else, psychic (or some would say psycho) fit.
JT

Starting now with some pictures of the wing. The camera I used wasn't a good one so the pictures were not as clear as the stab ones. Also I don't have many details but will try to add more during the live construction.

You do need a jig to build the center panel with the required 5 degrees. I chose to build mine out of MDF and it is a very important step if you want a good flying plane. You can't have bends or twists specially once it is all in the bag with lots of weight at the top.

The full size plans also help a lot. Mine were plotted in vellum paper. Here is an explanation from a website about vellum if you don't know how to make it.

"It was prepared from untanned calfskin by drying it under tension after it was cleaned, dehaired, and scraped. After it was stretched, it was polished with pumice - an abrasive - and talc - a filler - as a final preparation for writing"

Take this to Kinkos and explain them how you want it. Just kidding

As I said it was actually plotted using the DXF file.

Glauco,

Thanks again for sharing your build! I have the MDF for the wing jig and I'm having heat installed in the garage on Monday. I ended up buying the 1 oz Kevlar and I will build mine to spec. Now it's off to Kinkos to see if they can enlarge the plans.

Keep up the great work,

Jim

A few more pictures.

Have received the cores for the new planes today. Waiting on ACP to be able to start the live thread.

For now even more pictures, enjoy.

Wow, Glaugo. There are many of us that are following this thread with nothing to contibute, other than our enthusiasm for you sharing your techniques wih us.

thank you,
David

Wow. Nice play-by-play.

Regarding the servo-wire channel...
There's always a danger that the vacuum load will push down on the top and bottom foam bridges over the channel and leave dents in the surface. For this reason you want to:
1) Make the channel as small as possible, in height and in width.
2) Center it vertically
3) Glue the two narrow foam faces solidly to the spar, so that the glue joint can take a bending moment and help support the foam better.

The larger the channel, the more important 2) and 3) become.

The main reason I make the channel rounded on the back edge is to give it a little more crush resistance. I also used a relatively narrow channel for most of the center span where there is only one servo lead, and a wider channel for two wires only out to the flap servo.

What djklein21 said !!

Thanks for all the wows
I understand it is more like a blog now since I'm just posting pictures taken months ago of a plane that is already flying.

Still have a few more to post before moving to the live thread once I get enough materials to start it.Then it will become slower and more detailed.

The whole idea is to encourage people to build their own planes using the fantastic Supra design and plans available to everyone. It is not a first composite project but I want to show it is not impossible either. You can build at your own pace if time is a problem. Must point it is not a cheap project so if you want to save some money go and support the fine companies that sell our shinny toys. But I want to see the grin on your face once you win a contest with a plane you build yourself. Priceless

Glauco,

Thanks again for all the play-by-play photos. I would have never considered building my own Supra if it hadn’t been for people like you, tonyestep, nuevo, and Dr. Drela sharing their building experiences. It’s truly inspiring.

I’ve hit one road block; I can’t find a local shop that can print a full size wing plan. Does anyone know of an online printing service that can print this large?

I’ll start building all my jigs next week and I’ll bag some test cores (it’s my first time and I’m working with all new equipment) just to make sure I have the process down.

Thanks,

Jim

Glauco/Mark,

I'm having a tough time deciphering the spar cap thickness drawings on the website. I'm looking for thickness dims at various locations along the entire span. I see the .084 thickness at the root, and .020 at the end of the center panel... is this correct? Does the thickness reduce linearly? (Is that a word?) And how are they made? I'm sure there is an explanation somewhere that I haven't been able to find... help...

Thanks

D

Mark - great design! Glauco... wow!!!

Originally Posted by Daryl Perkins

I'm having a tough time deciphering the spar cap thickness drawings on the website. I'm looking for thickness dims at various locations along the entire span. I see the .084 thickness at the root, and .020 at the end of the center panel... is this correct? Does the thickness reduce linearly? (Is that a word?) And how are they made? I'm sure there is an explanation somewhere that I haven't been able to find... help...

The sparcaps I got from ACP decreased from 0.084 to 0.014 in five steps of 0.014" each. A prepreg layer is normally 0.007", so each step drops 2 plies.
The wing drawing shows the sparcap in a front view (thickness greatly exaggerated), where you can see the steps.
It would be better if the plies dropped off one at a time rather than two at a time, but that would involve more layup labor. Doesn't really matter on a stiffness-sized spar. The outer sparcaps do drop off one ply at a time.

Continuing with the pictures.

Wow, this sure is déjà vu.

Like you, I installed my servo blocks before bagging. In hindsight, I think it would have been easier if I had done it afterwards. I would have better adhesion between the blocks and the skin, instead of spackle.

I'm impressed with your work, and enjoying watching the story unfold.

Originally Posted by nuevo

Like you, I installed my servo blocks before bagging. In hindsight, I think it would have been easier if I had done it afterwards. I would have better adhesion between the blocks and the skin, instead of spackle.

Or you can use microballoons/epoxy on the servo mounting blocks -- it's much stronger than light spackle.

Another solution is to cut out the foam for the servo blocks, and put it back for the bagging. I always do this for the RDS pockets. Hogging out the "free" foam bits is very easy, with no fiddly internal measuring and fitting.