Hey all,
In case anyone cares to see, we've made a bit more progress on our Navyplane project. I'm still experimenting with wing surface coverings but meanwhile wanted to see how the wing assembly might pan out with some test pieces. We designed the struts with .2mm metal stiffening wires running the entire length before the curing process. This proved successful, though we'll need to slightly beef up the strut thickness or maybe try stiffer wires, as these are a little too bendy. The good news is, they fit well into the pre-set holes at each wing point, though even with the very thin MRP lacquer the holes were tight because of the paint layer. We'll enlarge them with the next print. This allows for a precision I could never achieve by manually drilling the strut holes as with all my old scratchbuilds.
For a first attempt I'm pleasantly surprised how easy it all came together without anything breaking. However, a close look shows there are some undulations with the leading edges, particularly at the joint of the center section and inner wings. Warping to the struts as well. We'll have to double-check our measurements so that all the parts print uniformly. Also, I really should invest in that jig which was recommended a while back. This thing has a 71-ft wingspan and the misalignment of my test fit is shows. That aside, it's remarkable how strong the pinpoint glue joints are and how light the framework is at this small scale... strong enough that one can pick the whole assembly up just from the wingtip.
.
