aligning biplane wings question

In the old days, some of the kits (Aurora's Jenny comes to mind) provided ajig that you could lay the wings into while the glue set. Just a couple of pieces of flat plastic with slots for the wings' leading edge and maybe abour 3/4" to where the wingspar would be in "real life". Take a couple of pieces of flat plastic and cut them together so they are identical. Put in as much or as little stagger as you need and you should be home free. HTH,

-- John ___ __[xxx]__ (o - ) --------o00o--(_)--o00o-------

The history of things that didn't happen has never been written - Henry Kissinger

build a jig of aligned sticks and fit the drying parts in?

Remember what scale that Jenny was in? The one I've been trying to find again after many, many years had that same setup...

OTOH, some kits (Revell 1/32 F3F comes to mind) have them set in or under fuselage decking, so they've got a good, strong support...

I use illustration board. Very flat, and much easier to cut than flat plastic sheets. A whole lot less expensive too.

F Marion

With great difficulty, wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a lot of words your mother didn't teach you. But seriously- many modelers make up jigs. I use tape and-or modeling clay to hold things in place while the glue sets. I also rig the biplane with fishing line, which adds some strength. Kim M

Aurora's Jenny was 1/48 scale.

1:48 (+/-), it seemed to be a slightly different size than the 1:48 Lindberg effort. That one was a jem, for the most part. The mechanic figure was wonderful, it had detail that you could only see properly under a strong magnifier, but it was there. A rag in the back pocket and a wrench in the front. I used that kit as the basis for four different JN-related aircraft and still want to build a 1:48 twin engined Jenny.

-- John ___ __[xxx]__ (o - ) --------o00o--(_)--o00o-------

The history of things that didn't happen has never been written - Henry Kissinger

Just picking on one of the posts for my reply..

Hmm, I tried that actualy. The jig itself needs to fit the wings perfectly, which also involves the aforementioned sounds. In my case it didn't fit all that well, and was next to useless as a result.

Tried that too, but ran into the same aligment problem. My real problem is not so much getting things to stay aligned, but getting them there in the first place.

That sounds like a good, logical idea. After all, that what most of the rigging was there fore in the first place. I don't think the Brisfit will get this kind of service, but the Gladiator certainly will.

A friend of mine I talked to yesterday used a different trick. The first thing he glues up are the wings. Using slow setting glue, he attaches the struts to the wings at any old angle they happen to end up in. He then places the whole bunch with one wing against an angled surface, and makes sure the left to right alignment is correct. The second wing now rests against the table and the struts. In this situation, the angle of the pre-made support, the surface of the table, and the length of the struts, defines the exact geometry needed. Leave for the glue to set, and you're done.

support | | wing | | | | strut | | | | | | =\ \ | \ ==\ \----------\ ===\ \ \

Try using a pair of cheap plastic pocket combs (one per side) to set and hold both stagger and spacing - just slide the leading edges of the wings into the teeth as necessary. You can even clip some of the teeth out if they're spaced too closely together.

Yes it was also yellow. I built one when I was a kid. Was very proud of it till several years later, my dad told me I had put the wings on backwards. Wish I still had it for a conversation piece. They are very collectable now aren't they? Mike IPMS

Do you remember the Aurora "Barnstormers" set? Came in a huge (to my eye) box with a DH4 and a Jenny. That Jenny was molded in a bright metallic green and the DH4 was IIRC, yellow. Came with custom decals, although the plastic was still molded for the military decals. I bought that one for $1.98 back in the day. Now the price would be almost equal to my son's college tuition. Still have some of the decals in my stash, but the plastic is long gone (an over-zealous parent cleaning up when I went into the Marines 8-( )

-- John ___ __[xxx]__ (o - ) --------o00o--(_)--o00o-------

The history of things that didn't happen has never been written - Henry Kissinger

Same thing here John. Got caught in the draft and off to the Army. My younger brother then moved into my room and when I came home nearly all my models had been destroyed by 'penny cracker' flak or sunk by 'cherry bomb torpedoes' Lucky for him I was just too glad to be home alive, to make an issue about it, when I finally made it back. Mike IPMS

Try making a simple jig; cut two pieces of extruded foam to size. If the wings are offset, cut rhomboid shapes from the foam. If not offset, cut with right angles. Also, if the plane is really large, you might want to have a jig for each wing cell (bay).

Make the jigs a trifle shorter than the wing struts included in your kit, or the size of strut that is exposed outside its wing socket.

Place one jig under the right side, one under the left, and rubber band the upper wing in place. While doing this, don't cover up the spots where the struts will go. After you feel sure that the wing is placed correctly in all dimensions, place all the struts in position PRIOR to gluing. Struts should bend a bit, and ought to more or less snap into place. Attach your struts with a slow curing CA glue or whatever you like.

I prefer doing all the wing struts first, then doing the cabane struts second. Some people prefer the opposite. Just chose one or the other; simply working from one side to the other would have a better chance of introducing some wonkiness (technical term).

After the glue has cured, you can remove the rubber bands (usually better to cut them off) and then slip the foam jigs out. Done deal!

When doing small planes, I generally don't bother with these things, But the more struts there are, the more you need to use jigs.