Aileron Web

Now the fun starts of fitting the ailerons….

The receiving part of the trailing edge has a curved web of ply to be applied. Firstly this needs to be scarfed over about 10 mm to provide a single full width piece of ply. The ply then needs to be wet and jigged to provide a slight curve. This will make fitting it to the ‘plane easier as the ply has significant spring in it.

The cool and slightly damp barn is worrying as I want the glue to go off properly. My friend Colin lent me a petrol powered jet style heater that I used to warm the whole body up in the summer prior to painting. Havent used it since but plugging it in and flicking the switch get a jet flame out instantly and the barn begins to warm up in seconds.

Even so – it proves difficult to ‘train’ it to the curved trailing edge. After many dry tests I’m still not happy its seating properly with the clamps. I then try some small plastic drainpipe pieces that provide constant span pressure against the curved concave surface. This seems to do the job and a number of judiciously placed clamps finish the squeezing exercise. I will now leave the aerolite to go off properly.