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Flanging Part 2

I added flanges to the opposite sides of the ribs I had done previously.


BID for flanges is cut at 45 deg. First I cut a strip off the main roll to reduce waste.


Then cut strips at 45 deg approx 2 in wide.


I prepped the ribs by deglossing the surface with 60grit sand paper and wiping it down with acetone. I also knocked down any edges sticking up from the first flange so the overlapping glass on the second could lay flat. 


I wet out the BID between two sheets of plastic like previously, but this time I wet out the two ply layer together. Befor I put the two ply layup in place, I wet the surface with some catalyze resin.


Two plies BID wet out and squeeged out. Note the excess resonate the top and bottom.

HRIB2 after demolding and before and after trimming.

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Flanging Part 1

2 hours to glass flanges on one side of 4 ribs. The jigs I made were all 12 inches as per the instructions, but that is not long enough for HRIB1 so I will have to make longer jigs. Each flange has 2 layers of BID as per instructions.


I started by wrapping the jigs in plastic wrap and  inserting the rib. I used 60 grit sand paper to take the shine off both sides of the rib first.



The BID was cut to size and I poured catalyze resin in a stripe down the middle of each piece of glass. I then layered plastic on top and used a squeegee to spread the resin from the center of each piece out to reduce air bubbles. I then squeegeed off excess resin to the long ends.


When done, the glass was totally transparent.


I then opened the plastic and peeled each ply up being careful not to distort it. This worked well for the smaller ribs, but peeling up the larger pieces of glass was more difficult without distortion. I think when I get to the main wings, the flanges will have to be glassed in place on the jigs.

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6′ Sanding Block

Since I used a band saw instead of a knife to cut out my spars, the edges are a little rough and a little over size. So, I skipped ahead a bit in the instructions and saw this idea for big sanding block. This will make nice straight spars.

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Tail Rib Jigs and HStab Rib

The last couple nights I’ve spent an hour here and there making the flange jigs for the horizontal stabilizer ribs and sanding the rough cut ribs to match the blue prints.

I used white glue on the first jig and it worked ok. The Gorilla Glue recommended was really the best and I glued all the rest of the jigs using that.

I used 2″ staples to hold the foam in place while drying.

After measuring, I found the 8 layers of duct tape put the flange spacing right at 5/16″, so I used 8 layers on all jigs.


The ribs sanded very easy, so I used 150 grit sandpaper to shape them. It was a. It slower, but easier to control so there was no oversanding. The results were quite satisfying and easy to achieve.

HRIB4 with angle sanded on the end to match the sweep of the hstab leading edge. On right and one left.

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Cutting Tail Parts

Tonight I layed out the long H Stab and V Stab parts and got them glued down and cut out all the parts. Time, about 2 hours.

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I just loosely cut out this template in the interest of time and it actually ended up making it easier to see the line when I was cutting them out.


All the parts for a complete horizontal and vertical stabilizer. They just need to be sanded to match each other so my wing surfaces are nice and flat and symmetrical.

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Night Stands 4

I finished the drawer and got them mounted in the night stand boxes.

I cut two drawer blanks from 4/4 Black Walnut.


And clamped them to the boxes with the drawers in stalled and clamped the blanks in place so I could mark the back sides to be cut.


I trimmed right up to the edge of the line with the finish blade in my bandsaw. And I sanded the edge just enough to get the pencil line to disappear.


I then saned the entire blank down to 180 grit with my random orbit sander and checked the fit in the cabinet.

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H Stab part cutting

Today I printed the rib templates and got them trimmed and taped together. I had the chance to get one rib cut out. 

I rough cut out a piece from the 1/4″ stock, then lay the HRB1 template on it and sprayed a light coat of paint. I was left with a nice silhouette to cut out on the band saw.

After cutting I sanded the edges smooth.



The result was perfect, but it took a long time to cut out the small piece with a knife and paint it. Tomorrow I will make the spar template and then spray glue them all directly to the laminate. I thin I can get all the spars and ribs for both vertical and horizontal stabilizers and elevator from this one piece.