Building a Nieuport 11...

[1684zach]

Yep, me too.

I as well. Keep up the good work!

[Jim Hann]

On another note, is anyone reading this, or is it just a vanity thread? If it is, I'll just stop adding to it.

I am also reading it when on the forums, was off for a bit.

[Chick]

I am enjoying it! I'm living my builders fantasy through you. Keep us posted and thanks.

[flyboy_pete]

I am building a Graeme Lee designed Nieuport 11 and have been following your build with much interest. Keep it up as I have gleened much from your posts.
Cheers..............Pete from Australia

[Frank Giger]

Thanks for your kind words!

Naturally, I was mucking around the wing after checking for damage due to the recent storms (a once tiny hole in my front tarp is now a huge one) and came up with option three.

I took that long gusset strip and turned it around to where the long part lay on the ribs, following the airfoil, and checked to see if the short end would hang down enough to meet the spar.....dangled if it didn't! So no goofy splicing required - I can go straight to the rib and get what I need for aerodynamics, strength and covering.

I guess once again it shows that when one is in doubt to just stop and think it through. Tough for a guy like me that never learned patience (there was a line to sign up for the class).

Pete, you'll note there are some differences between the Lee G plans and the Airdrome ones; Robert and Lee got along famously but each has a different approach to things. At any rate, I hope that by showing my mistakes you can avoid making them yourself. I'd also highly recommend emailing the Kansas City Dawn Patrol guys (easy google for their site; can't remember it offhand); they are tremendously willing to help out and can talk dummy if need be. Lord knows they know to speak slowly and use small words when I ask stuff of them.

[Frank Giger]

Finally some decent weather, so I skipped some sleep and knocked out that top rib ending problem.

This is what an airfoil matching the aileron looks like with some landscaping fabric to sub in:



And here's what it looks like "naked."



Note the large hole in the tarp behind the wing. That was a pinhole before the storms we had! I'm just amazed the whole thing is still there after 60 MPH gusts. I put another tarp on top of it; hopefully the old one will act like reinforcement for it.

[Frank Giger]

Well, my poor little tent took one too many 60 MPH wind storms. I was warned:



Seams split right down the center of the roof!



Tools got a little more rusty, but other than that no damage to the plane or parts.

New tarp for the roof - thicker and slivered on one side, which will help once things start to warm up.



Flipped the wing over and put on the bottom gusset thingie:



Done but for the leading edges, which I'm holding off on as A) I haven't built a rack to hang the wings on for storage and they'll just get banged up, and B) I HATE LEADING EDGES.

Left wing on sawhorses and the rear edge bow given the goofy bend to make up for the spacers in the aileron mounts.



This is where some idiot proofing came in handy. I had originally put it on the sawhorses the other way - and then spotted the big BOTTOM OF WING in big letters on the spar!

Whew boy, what fun words I would be able to say had I built two right wings!

[1684zach]

Almost made two left wings myself before. Glad you caught it!

-Zach

[Frank Giger]

Hmmm, I'm way behind on updating this thread!

So, both upper wings are done, less leading edges and center ribs.



Time to return to the lower wings, now that it's cooled down to tolerable levels:



This is one of the reasons to always bend duplicates at the same time. I had almost used this circular cut away to make the bend on the second bow...and then recalled that I actually used a conduit bender for it.



Much better! Looking at my photos of various Nieuports out there, I realized I needed to extend the bow beyond the rear spar to get a nice ending to the wing (this isn't clear in the plans).
To make the extension, eyeball measure and drill holes to match the angle in some extra tubing:



I found I don't do any better by micro-measuring for this than just by marking by feel.



Baslee method of annealing (red Sharpie FTW)

[Frank Giger]

When the red is gone, the aluminum is annealed. Remember, kids, it's a lot hotter than it looks.



One cube of ice and a bandaid later, cut it down to the holes.



Insert a half inch drill bit into the hole and appy hammer gently.



Cut, sand smooth, and test fit...holy smokes, it fit!



In a rare piece of foresight, I actually wrote down the measurement of this semicircle wood for the top bend. Did both, natch.


And here's the rib jig.



I'm going to do all the rib gussets and cuts at once. Doing them one at a time took too long and was awkward.