1:72 Italeri Stirling MkIV

[aerodes]

Hi all,

Well after months of slow work I've come to a key point (thought I'd never get here) - I need to glue the wings on to my Stirling. First question was going to be; do I spray primer first or glue on wings and do the whole job in one go - opted for the latter.

Right: so dry fit wings - fit OK(ish) but here's where I need some advice. This is my biggest build to date and I've encountered a new prob because of the length of the wing span and the fact that the main undercarriage is already in place.

How do I set and support the wings so that (a) I have the right dihedral and (b) both sides are the same - and stay the same whilst the adhesive is setting?

 

Any advice especially if you've built one of these beasts before? For anyone who is not familiar with the 1:72 model the wing span is 16.5 inches for us imperial guys.

Rgds

PS thought I'd already posted this and if i have please forgive - not savvi enough on forum posting

[Mark Harmsworth]

There are several Stirling builds - you could try a search in the work in progress forum.

 

@Ed Russell had a great solution involving an empty wine box and a large elastic band (yes, really) - see page two of his build:

 

[aerodes]

Cheers MarkH. This looks nice and easy - look forward to emptying the box first!

How did you check to see that port and stbd wings had same dihedral angle before letting the second wing set in place?

Rgds

[Mark Harmsworth]

1 hour ago, aerodes said:

Cheers MarkH. This looks nice and easy - look forward to emptying the box first!

How did you check to see that port and stbd wings had same dihedral angle before letting the second wing set in place?

Rgds

To be clear that was Ed Russell's build. As I tagged him in my first reply he should see this.

Mark

[Ed Russell]

My explanation on that thread is a bit superficial but nobody asked for more. It's a while ago but I have used the same technique before. The wings go on one at a time. On the edges of the box, hidden behind the fuselage are two stops which determine the position of it on the box. Inside the box, hidden because of the viewpoint, is a block which determines the angle of the wing dihedral. From memory, the tab to slot fit was fairly tight and the engineering was good, so the wings were largely self setting.