Falconar F11A Wing Ribs

 If there is no menu bar on left - click here

Aug 17th, 2006

5hrs - 109hrs total.

The aircraft wing ribs are started.  A huge help in speeding up the construction of the wing ribs is a jig built by Egon.  (See  Fellow Builders)  While the jig is fairly simple, Egon invested considerable time and effort to machine the cam type retainers that are shown installed in the pictures below.  Having finished his wing, Egon generously donated his jig to me.  Thanks Egon!!  I wonder who will get it next?

The aircraft wing lead edge radius is fairly tight so a thinner cap strip is used.  This strip is steam heated and shaped on a form.  As can be seen in the picture below, the tip is already scarfed, and is ready to be glued to the main cap strips.

Aug 24th, 2006

12hrs - 121hrs total.

Work on the aircraft wing ribs continues.  As can be seen below, two ribs are almost done.  The third rib is ready to receive its gussets and the forth rib is being fitted.  At the top of the picture, two new leading edge cap strips were scarfed, steamed, and are being bent into shape.  Basically it takes five work sessions to build a rib:

1: Scarf leading edge and upper rib cap strips - steam leading edge strips and clamp into shaper,
2: Remove leading edge cap strips from shaper and glue to upper rib cap strips. Shape rib nose plywood.
3: Fit upper and lower rib cap strips into jig.  Trim and fit all cross braces. Cut out aft gusset. Glue everything together in jig. Cut out all remaining gussets.  
4: Remove rib from jig.  Sand and finish all joints.  Glue remaining gussets to rib.
5: Trim and sand to a perfect finish

As each work component does not take a full evening, I am working the ribs in an assembly line fashion.  I will work on 3 or 4 of these steps in an evening - all on different ribs.

Sept 5th, 2006

16hrs - 137hrs total.

Work on the wing ribs continues.  As can be seen below in the Falconar F11A aircraft wing rendition of the 3d model, ribs 3a, 4, 5 , and 6 are mostly finished.  The final rib brace and gussets will be installed after the ribs are joined to the wing box spar. There are 9 full ribs per wing, 9 leading edge ribs, a false rib (rib 2), and a structural rib (rib 1). 

Sept 16th, 2006

14hrs - 151hrs total.

Work on the aircraft wing ribs continues.    Ribs 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 5, and 6 are finished.

Sept 23rd, 2006

9hrs - 160hrs total.

Work on the Falconar F11A wing ribs continues, and continues and continues......    Ribs 1a, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 5, and 6 are finished. Rib 2 on the RH side is also done.  That is 17 ribs out of 42. Soon, I will be starting on the wing spar and once assembled, its over 27ft long.  My 8 by 24 foot, crowded workshop just wont do, so we are house hunting.  With my eldest daughter no longer at home and my youngest leaving by next summer, my wife and I discussed that it would be nice to have a smaller house "bigger workshop", out in the country where we could have a small garden "private landing strip", and flower beds "can you say full sized tractor with front end loader".  It has been a blessing to our marriage that we can communicate so clearly and our thoughts are so well aligned. ;-)

Oct 14th, 2006

18hrs - 178hrs total.

Between house hunting, showing my house to prospective buyers, earning a living, answering e-mails, and taking care of family, work has slowed on the aircraft.  I still make a point of working on the aircraft every day but lately its been measured in minutes instead of hours per day.  That being said, work on the wing ribs continues. Ribs 1a, 2, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 5, 5a, 6, and 7 are finished.  That is 22 ribs out of 42, over half done!   For those that may be interested, I will be presenting my aircraft construction at the local chapter of the EAA on the 26th of October.  Everyone is welcome.  For details, please see the EAA266 website under the link "Meetings".

Oct 24th, 2006

11hrs - 189hrs total.

Work on the Aircraft wing ribs continues. Ribs 1a, 2, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 5, 5a, 6, 7, and 8 are finished.  For those that may be interested, I will be presenting my aircraft construction at the local chapter of the EAA on the 26th of October.  Everyone is welcome.  For details, please see the EAA266 website under the link "Meetings".

Nov 12th, 2006

14hrs - 203hrs total.

Work on the wing ribs continues. Ribs 1a, 2, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 5, 5a, 6, 6a, 7, 7a, and 8 are finished.  I've started on the wingtip ribs.  As difficult as it may seem to believe, I am sick and tired of building ribs.  The encouragement I get through e'mails written by the readers of this site, helps keep my motivation up.  I want to thank these one time strangers, now acquaintances, perhaps someday, good friends, for taking the time to say "Hi, nice site!".

For those that are interested, my Falconar F11A Aircraft presentation at the local chapter of the EAA went very well.  Everyone seemed pleased and I was honored to be asked to share.

Nov 19th, 2006

6hrs - 209hrs total.

Work on the aircraft wing ribs continues. Ribs 1a, 2, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 5, 5a, 6, 6a, 7, 7a, 8, and 11 are finished.   Lightening/access holes in both rib 11's remain to do but these will wait until they have been dry fitted to the wing.  I still have to choose a set of wingtip navigation lights and wingtip shape.

Nov 29th, 2006

5hrs - 214hrs total.

Work on the aircraft wing ribs continues. Ribs 1a, 2, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 5, 5a, 6, 6a, 7, 7a, 8, 10, and 11 are finished. 

Dec 27th, 2006

6hrs - 220hrs total.

6 hours in almost a month - not good.  Between my daughter getting her foot run over by a mini-van (lots of soft tissue damage - no breaks), rebuilding my car shelter after it was blown away in a windstorm, rebuilding my car after hitting a deer (replaced fender, driver side door, windshield, headlight), typical Christmas running around, family visits, etc, etc, etc........ maybe I should count my blessings that I found 6 hours.  As of today, Ribs 9A and 10A are left to build.  

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  I wish you and yours, health, wealth and happiness in the new year.

Jan 18th, 2007

2hrs - 234hrs total.

The following picture shows a typical joint in a wing rib.   The plans do not necessarily show actual contact between the rib cross braces and the upper and lower cap strips and seem to rely entirely on the plywood gusset to transfer the loads.  On my aircraft, every cross brace makes solid contact as can be seen below.   This is the LAST wing rib!!!

Jan 28th, 2007

I am catching up on some web updates. The wing ribs are completed!!!  After the spar is completed, each rib will be fit , trimmed, and installed.