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Building Tips and technical articles. => 1/2 A building. => Topic started by: Dave Nyce on January 01, 2019, 04:31:12 PM
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Just finished a Baby Lightning Streak from a Brodak kit. Will add it to the fleet of planes for the next flying session with the kids at the foster care center. I visit there each month (except December and January) to help about 25 kids to build & fly 1/2A CL model planes.
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I love mine, great flying plane that is very simple to build.
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Looks nice.
What are the webs in the last rib bay for?
Divot
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Shear webs, I bet. This appears to make the wing tips stiffer up and down. I wonder if this kit is known for floppy wings.
I would have thought they would be more effective closer to the roots.
Just to be transparent, I'm making guesses.
My scratch-built Wido-Satan (flyinglines.org Lil Satan clone) tore the outboard bay paper in a crash. It may not have if I had shear webs in it like this one...or I'd have a handy, wing-shaped, fuel-proof bag to carry the resultant splinters home in.
LL~
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Out there, it does nothing for wing bending strength, so to call it a shear web is beyond misleading. The best I can come up with is that it keeps the tip plate and tip rib from leaning over if you were to pull too hard on the covering when installing, or, if the covering tension was unequal after all was said and done.
It may also be handy for installing tip weight, but it really isn't in the right place.
The kit comes with this "feature?" Just curious.....
Still, the plane looks good and like a capable flyer!
Dave
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Mr. Hull, I like your line of thought more...especially since I dope and tissue and have seen the last rib mildly bow inward before both surfaces are closed in.
Ken, is yours a Brodak? Did yours have the same web out there at the tips?
Mr. Nyce, is this a stock feature?
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Hello All:
I have Brodak 1/2A plane that I think is called the Baby Flite Streak. It looks just like Jim's red model shown above except that the motor is beam-mounted to the side. No webs in the outer bays. Hope I'm not confusing things here.
Dave Mo...
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No confusing things here Dave. There is both a Baby Flite Streak, and Baby Lightning Streak. They are similar but both have some different things associated. Tail groups and wingtips are different, and I also believe that the tail moment on the Lightning Streak are different. As for other differences, I am sure someone more knowledgable will chime in and point them out.
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My Brodak Lightning Streak didn't have those pieces. Even if it did, I wouldn't of put them in. As Dave suggests, they're not doing anything of value. As for the Brodak Baby Flite Streak, the wing is pretty much a identical outline but the Baby Flite Streak is a bit more complex than the Baby Lightning Streak. However, the Baby Lightning Streak represents the real Top Flite Baby Flite Streak as it's comprised of solid leading edges and trailing edges. The Brodak version has a pieced leading edge and half ribs which the original didn't have. There's considerably more pieces in the Brodak Baby Lightning Streak. I built both the Baby Lightning Streak and the Brodak version and I enjoy both of them. They fly terrific. My Baby Lightning Streak went in early on with mild damage to the wing and fuse, I will replace the fuse at some point. Ken
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I added them to make the wing tips more stiff. With only very small glue areas at leading and trailing edges, the wing tips easily flex up and down. And also break off easily. The trailing edge joint is the weakest, so the extra parts were added more aft than center. Worked out well. The wing tips are much stronger this way.