Updated 9/1/2001- see bottom of this page.
This plane has been substantially modified from earlier Wedges. Major changes include the removal of all standard aircraft ply, the replacement of the lite ply plates on the nose with balsa, the removal of the maple engine bearer beams, removal of all spruce, and major wing changes (airfoil shape as well as mechanical construction). This will also be the first Wedge I've built for someone else (my brother, for his birthday) so I won't have any control over covering, radio gear or engine choice. The RX and servos will be Futaba, I suspect the powerplant will be a Saito .91s ('cause he already owns one), and the hope is that the covering will either be clear laminating film or translucent monokote. It would be very interesting to see a Wedge covered in something colored :-)
In these pictures, all control surfaces are temporarily mounted with balsa scabs and will have to be removed before covering.
As can be seen by the shadow in the picnic table, the wing is mostly air. All wood in the wing is 1/16" sheet stock with the single exception of the spars which are hard 1/4" square balsa.
When viewed from the side, the plane looks smaller than it really is. The fuselage is almost 12" at its widest point and the wing is close to 4" thick.
Here is a better view of the wing alone. Note the stepped spars; there are two spars for the first couple of wing bays but only the front spar continues on to the wing tip. More info. is available on this design on the section about wings.
It's now the first of September and Wedge #12 is nearly for it's first cras..... er, I mean flight :-) This is my brother's plane and he choose to cover it with several different colors of Monokote as well as using some laminating film. The following photos don't really show the effect of the chrome 'kote against both the black wing bottom and the copper 'koting on top. All in all, a most interesting way to finish a plane.... This is the Wedge being held by my youngest son, Jared.
A bottom view of the same plane. It's really hard to appreciate the coloring here but the bottom of the wing is coated entirely in clear film. The cap-strips have been blackened on this side only, and the copper monokote can be seen right through the wing. A very interesting effect. The nose is not yet covered but will be in the same color as the forward part of the fuse; this looks black in the pictures but is really a dark gray metallic monokote.
The "business" end of the plane. Power is provided by a Saito .91s. The engine has just been installed but will require a Cline regulator because the fuel tank is mounted so far to the rear. The prop is hand carved and has been given a quick 'accent' job to match the L.E. of the wing, simply because no day is complete without a little but-breaking (he has not seen the prop yet) :-)
The two current Wedges shown together (mine, #13 on the right and Craig's, #12, on the left). They are extremely similar although there are differences. Most notable is that the wing on the Wedge on the left has been moved 2 inches rearward to compensate for the much lighter Saito engine being used. The fuse on the plane on the right is 3 inches wide as opposed to the other one, which is 4 inches wide (this was a mistake on my part- my fuse <should> have been 4 inches wide also although 3 inches seems to be ample). The only other differences are in the hardware- mine is powered by a YS .91, uses JR and Hitec radio and servo gear, and carries a 5-cell, 1,100 mah battery pack. Craig's plane is powered with a Saito .91, uses Futaba radio gear, and has a standard 4-cell, 500 mah battery pack. These differences may not sound like too much but they conspire to make his plane 13.5 oz. lighter than mine; at 5.93 lb. and over 1,000 sq. in. of wing area, my plane almost won't stall at any speed- at 5.06 lb. his plane should be even more impressive. It will be most interesting to see them fly together and compare the various attributes.
