James Hindle Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I've just purchased a beautiful SIG 1/4 scale cub, a lot larger than expected but covered in glorious solatex which was the deal maker for me. The bit that bother me is the wing struts which are functional but are fixed making storage very difficult, has anyone any experience of alternatives using metal hinges or anything else so the wings fold flat, it would seem quite simple and retain the structural support but what about the mid support bar ? Thanks for any help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I'm in a similar situation with a 1/4 scale Cub which I bought from a deceased member's estate in an advanced state of construction (covered but not fitted out) but with rather odd hardwood struts which I replaced as per the kit instructions (Aerotech International) with struts made from (good quality) 1/4 ply. Unfortunately it suffered an in-flight structural failure after a few outings, on a rather gusty day, which I put down to a failed strut at first but on stripping the airframe to rebuild it, found that the strut fittings were drilled through the 1/4 square hardwood spar members! The point of failure was at these holes, unsurprisingly, but scuffing on the broken wing's tip had made me think that failure was due to impact until then. Needless to say, these areas have been redesigned during the repairs and I'm just at the stage of thinking about the strut construction as I don't really trust the kit method now (to be honest I had some nagging doubts but assumed the designer probably knew best) - what are yours made from? Mind you, although there was considerable distortion, the other 3 struts remained intact so maybe they weren't so bad? To get to your question, my thoughts on the jury struts are to use ball joints to allow easy folding for storage and retain the main strut end fittings with R clips for ease of assembly. These are an important part of the structure and need to be slop free. I'm using an ASP 160 twin for mine and it was so scale like when flying - quite a contrast to some of the stuff I fly but extremely rewarding so I have to repair it! As you can see I was still finishing it off - trying to get a match for the cowling paint when the "nasty" occurred but I'm recovering it in traditional Cub Yellow...and no, that's not the crash site by the car!Edited By Martin Harris on 05/03/2011 00:45:35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Cardona Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 i hope is not too late but you can find a solution on this website http://www.thecubden.org/cubmenu/cubmain.html check on the left hand side of the main page ,you'l find a title FOLDING STRUTS. A modification made for the sig 1/4 scale cub. regards Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hindle Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Thanksfor the help guys, in the end I opted for replacing the screws for imperial dubro rigging couplers then used the hanger 9 idea of R clips, seems to work. Long term will opt to permanently join the wing and reduce the need for the struts. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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