Building a Nieuport 11...

[Frank Giger]

Laying out the ribs, I noticed one of them wasn't the same. Dang it, missed one when we coped them back in Holden.



Let's mark off where it should be coped.



One could get a milling machine or fuss with a hole saw bit on the drill press...or one could notice that the belt sander has the same curve as the half-hole.



Which one is the one I "sand coped?"



The one on the right!



I'm down for a couple days with sinutistis.

[Frank Giger]

I can definately say that building the plane was for education, as the top wings schooled me pretty good. A few things really were brought home:

1) Any task that needs repeating should be repeated. Right now. Things I did wrong on the upper wings:

a) Making gussets for each set of ribs as I put the ribs on. I had to recreate the template for them after the first set was destroyed in the storm that took out the roof of the WonderTent. And while the airfoil is consistent, this is as much by accident as it is by plan - I used a couple different techniques for getting them on.

b) Coping the ribs to fit the bow one at a time, just like the rib gussets.

c) Thinking in a linear manner instead of in two directions. I got in my head that ribs had to be one on top of the other, meeting at a single point on the rear bow. This is silly; as long as the airfoil shape is correct and consistent the air doesn't care if the upper and lower ribs meet side by side. And it will be invisible to the casual observer.

2) I know now why guys build more than one airplane! The first one is so one can learn how to build airplanes! :blush:

Anyhow, putting lessons into practice!

Holes drilled for coping the back of the rib.



All ribs done and fit the jig!



Templates for gussets sorted out.

A couple of things:

First, note the lower rib has two lines and a dented area at the rear (right) spar. This isn't because I'm a dummy; the Robert's N11 airfoil and the lower rib don't get along perfectly, and he had warned me that I needed to gently apply a ball peen hammer to them.

Second, when I bent the ribs back in Holden I didn't just pull down, but apparently pulled forward as well. There's a curve to the ribs which means that to fit the front coping right and have it smooth along the wing the rear gets elevated in the jig a little.



Gussets traced and ready for cutting and bending. I had numbered them to ensure I had done enough of them (Robert included extras, and I also didn't want to do stuff I didn't need to).

Hilariously, I numbered them in a place that would be cut off from the gusset!



All done. I bent two each of the gussets the other way, as invariably one has to have the things on the other side.



Worked out the gusset blank for the rear of the bow to attach to the ribs; gonna draw, cut, sand, and pre-bend those tomorrow.

[Frank Giger]

Time to break out the Light Aluminum Aircraft Gusset Shearing Assembly to get those rear bow rib gussets cut out.



One can find them in the aviation section of office supply stores, and it works a champ at cutting thin sheet licky split.



All sanded to smooth the rough edges and one test bent because I couldn't help it. Though it was quick work compared to cutting them by hand, making 36 of these things wasn't a lot of fun.

One might wonder what the water on the paper slicer is; it's sweat from the bill of my hat that rolled onto it, as I stayed out too long and it topped 100 degrees in the WonderTent.



Making rib. Note that the top rib is riveted all the way through, but the lower one has only one driven. It acts like a hinge to keep it aligned. I put a rivet in the holes as I went as a poor man's cleco in the other holes.



I took the jig spacers down and moved them to reverse the bows for the gussets that go "the other way." At the end of the wing the gussets have to be on the right, so the jig was reversed.



All the ribs ready for mounting with the end bow gussets prepared.



Now I just have to splice the end of the bows (I'll talk about that next time) and start putting them on.

[Frank Giger]

It's my weekend, which means that I worked all last night but won't for the next two nights. Such is third shift...but I prepped yesterday by getting a little extra sleep so I could get cranking on the lower wings as soon as I got home!

First, a word on why I had to do some splicing. The plans show the end of the bow going right through the spar, and I had bent the bow and actually marked the spar for hole drilling.



This is a case of there really needing to be some text with these plans. In doing the upper wings, I noticed that the spar is a big ol' blob between the last rib and the end bow. Mr. Baslee said I could file it down to get rid of this, but for the lower wings I stole from some pics of other's work and made a little extension so the bow will get enough angle to clear the spar:



Unfortunately, moving the already bent bow out meant that it was now too short on the other end! One can't stretch tubing, but we can splice in an extension.
Took some scrap 1/4 inch tubing, cut it lengthwise, and then carefully crushed it down tightly so that it fits inside the bow and splice tightly. When one is a total meathead, making splices to fix broken stuff becomes an almost unwelcome skill.



We can get away with this because it's 1/4 inch tubing - by the very nature of its fragile makeup, there's not much structural stress going to be put on it. And the splice is actually stiffer than the plain tubing.

Anyhow, mark center on the splint and where the end of it will be on the part to be splinted so we'll know where to rivet it.



I only riveted the bow side, as there's going to be a rib on the other end, which will be the other two for the added side. They're actually the same length with the splice.



Leading edge spar where the bow comes into it. Only the first guide hole is drilled through the bow. The holes in the spar along the centerline are for a guide once we get ready to mount it.

Note the "A" on spar and bow. I had to do both at the same time to ensure consistency, but wasn't going to mount the long, fragile bows until I was ready to put ribs on them.

[Frank Giger]

Naturally since I elongated the total bow area, the second one (which didn't need a splice on the root end) had to have something added where it goes into the spar (on the other end).



Placing the ribs onto the wing was too easy!

Except where it wasn't. This is the root end, the last spar before the fuselage. It won't work, owing to the drag wires.

I'll have to figure something out - but it might not be a bad idea to wait until I do the intial wing mounting (interplane struts, locking down carry through positions, intial rigging) to place it.



Rather than agonize over this and spend a few days thinking about it, I'm just going to put that in the "known unknowns" column and put the rest of the ribs on.

I'll spare you the blow-by-blow and just tell you what I did. First I lined up the ribs on the marks I had made on the table (rather than going through the mess I did with the upper wings because I had forgotten to) and riveted the gussets on them (remember I had drilled the holes for the bottom rib but didn't rivet them).
I then mounted the front of the rib to the spar in a TLAR manner to the airfoil. The gussets are a little flexible and I could easily move the rear up or down to match the airfoil.

Starting with one of the double (top and bottom) ribs, I checked level of the spars and the bow, locked down the rear rib gusset to the spar when it met the bow, held in place with a little bungee.

Not a bad coping job on the end of the ribs, if I say so myself.



Lots of double checking with that metal ruler along the airfoil, and then locked down the bow with those gussets I cut out for them.



Lower wing done, less leading edge and the root end rib. My back was beginning to ache a bit from bending over and laying on the dirty concrete, so I figured I'd take a break.

I was shocked to see the clock in the WonderTent:



Holy crap, I started with just spar assembly and the ribs and bow gussets at around 0830! I took me about half an hour per rib on the upper wings because I didn't do a proper prep job and basically did each one from soup to peanuts as they came along.

[Frank Giger]

So today after dropping the kid off to school I cranked out the other wing.

From laying out ribs at around 0825:



To done at 1035, including giving a tour of the plane to the handyman working on the neighbor's garage!



This how you assemble the wings - NOT the way I did the uppers.

The handyman and I were confusing each other with our air compressors. His would start up and I'd go to check mine, as the hose was disconnected from the rivet gun at that time...and apparently he was doing the same with his when mine went off!

Tomorrow it's a little prep work and then initial fit of the wings onto the fuselage.

[Frank Giger]

So today I couldn't help myself - I had to do a trial fit of the wings.

I knew things were going to be fun when I put down a little wedge to start the leveling process on my very unlevel yard:



And was stunned to see:



and



What the heck! Level? Put the little table we use when hanging out in the back yard under the tailwheel mount to level it that way. Probably will have to dink with this a alot:



Immediately I found a problem. I mounted the inner rib on the top wings too close to the compression strut - this is where the front cabanes connect in!

Easy fix - just take out the rivets and move the front of the rib over a few inches to give it room.



Since I don't have a roof to hang the wings from, I built a couple frames out of the build table supports and firmed them in place with guide wires.



The cool thing is that there's a nice optical illusion going on. The frames are square - the ground is at a slant downwards!

[Frank Giger]

Much fussing later, it all got level and lined up in all the right ways. And yes, the top wings are level!



Yes, I climbed in and made airplane noises. :blush:

And then I took it all apart and put the bits to bed. Why?

First, the wire tangs on the wings and fuselage need brushing/sanding/painting to get rid of the rust before I swag cables through them.

Second, the top front gussets need some adjustment to allow for the wires to between the cabines to go straight.

Third, the bolts for the cabane wires have to have their holes enlarged.

But on the upside, I measured how much the carry-throughs need shimmed to lock them in place for the controls.

[Frank Giger]

My poor roof tarp took a beating in the last thunderstorm series and got a little tear at the top middle seam at the back of the WonderTent.

Yesterday I check on it and it had grown all the way down it - sigh. So I spent the afternoon replacing it with a better fitting one; indeed, I doubled it by putting two on for a roof.

Sun really does a number on these tarps - I could easily put my finger through it! Doubling the tarps should help by having the bottom one keep some integrity, though it cuts a lot of sun from the inside. Tarp difficulties is the main reason one can see rust on most of my tools!

[Frank Giger]

Lots of little stuff done in prep for re-mounting the wings, putting in the interplane struts, rigging, etc.

First up, the gussets at the front cabane were cut too close to allow for the cross wires to come up from underneath.

So drill a hole and make some lines.



Cut with a dremel tool and file smooth:



Next is all the bolts that hold the wires. The holes are too small for the wire and thimble. Enlarged them with a drill so they'll fit:



...and a lot of other little stuff like painting and shimming the carry throughs, cleaning the floor, painting the rear cabane, and basically getting stuff prepped for the re-mount.