Some day it will sprout wings

[Gene C]

After a few dry fits the wing root rib was glued to the upper and lower spars, leaving the wing tube free for the moment. This was done while the root rib was attached to the fuselage stub wing and braced until secured to the building board. Spacing of the ribs used two 1-2-3 blocks and a 0.008" business card (taking in account rib material thickness) to maintain a 4.125" rib center line spacing. Shear webbing was then cut and fitted before gluing on the leading edge half ribs. A clamping procedure was worked out to apply equal pressure on the shear webbing to spars before starting the process of gluing the shear webs to the wing spar. Time is now on the side of the wing as there is a lot left to do and that's just for Left wing. All to be repeated for the Right wing.

[gunny11]

Wow! That's looking perty... Nice long straight grains in your spruce spars.

[Gene C]

Gunny, it's all thanks to a fellow modeler and full size vintage restorer, that rip them full length from Aircraft quality Spruce. No splices, straight grain what more could a scratch builder need, except for maybe already completed wings.

[Gene C]

Assembled the trailing edges from 1/32" ply, carbon tow, epoxy and masking tape. After being clamped to a straight edge overnight they were cleaned up and dry fitted to the wing ribs. Even though the full size LK-10A had a 50' wing span, long and skinny they're not.

[Gene C]

Work continues on the wings as the Left wing was finished up to having the leading, trailing edges and upper aileron spars glued in place. This was fitted back on the fuselage to have a look see and help balance the airframe for gluing the Right wing root rib to the wing spars. Once the root rib was braced the assembly was secured to the building board for placing ribs on the Right wing spars. When the two are equally finished to the same point as the Left wing both will be placed back on the fuselage for finial measuring before the wing tubes are epoxy to the spars and root ribs.

[Gene C]

A few of us must just have charmed builds. The wings for the LK-10A were placed on the fuselage from the building board for measuring this morning. The results were surprising as the alignment with the horizontal stabilizer was perfect, with only the wings to rudder post off by less than 1/16" an this from a chap that hates building wings. Now to epoxy the wing tubes in place before setting it aside for a small repair on another airframe before continuing.

[horsefeetky]

very clean build and by looking at the floor of your shop i think you have build a many others there...............

[Gene C]

Well, maybe a few over the years

[yyz]

Looks great! Curious to see how you tie the joiner receiver tubes to the spar caps.

[Gene C]

In regard to your question the wing receiver tube is set in position thru the wing ribs and epoxy to the upper and lower spar filler blocks. A mixture of epoxy and filler is pressed into any open spaces then the surfaces and tube are covered with 3.2 oz glass cloth. This is followed by a cap of 1/8" vertical grain lite ply. When cured any voids will be filled and radius with a mixture of epoxy and filled glass. Now to find enough clamps to start the process again on the left wing.

[yyz]

Very nice. Pro tip turning the wooden clothes pins inside-out. I'm stealing that.

[Gene C]

I've been pondering the canopy releases for the LK for far too long, so the other day cutting started. After encountering a few issues the end result will work out nicely, only three more to make before the canopy bows can be attached permanently to the fuselage. Wings now with the Aileron diagonals and hing blocks glued in place were set aside while undertaking the canopy releases.

[Gene C]

Another setback on the canopy bows, so it was back to wings. The time had to come for sheeting the wing leading edges, unfortunately it is only a start as there is a lot left before finishing the leading edge sheeting process.

[Gene C]

The LK-10A was assembled out side the shop for the first time for a reality check. Yep! lots of work remaining before it will be airworthy. Realizing that it's not from a noted kit or a $6k+ hollow molded carbon fiber slippership to attract views, just old fashion scratch building that takes a bit of time. My thanks to the small base that seems to be following the build as it slowly crawls along.

[Soaranator]

Beautiful work Gene! In the early 1970's the UCSD Soaring Club had a LK-10 and flew it at Torrey Pines. I was lucky enough to get a couple of rides in it there. Fun!
Bill Liscomb

[Gene C]

It is inevitable that at some point in a build the building tabs must go. Now on to the Left wing up to this point before finishing up on the wing tips.

[Gene C]

Been working on the nose skid and some cockpit detail but the wing tip skid is now on the front burner. After a buck was made then molded an epoxy-glass mixture was injected to the mold to form a repeatable wing tip skid. Just in case there may be need for more than two. There is some changes needed to the procedure yet it seems to evacuate all the air bubbles in the form, but practice makes perfect as they say.

[Steve P]

Love it!!!!

[Gene C]

Finished the wingtip skids and fuselage nose skid so it was back to work on the control sticks. The rear control stick unit is a bit more complicated than the front unit but with any luck the front and rear cockpit control sticks will move in unison.