Both wings

[Michael Dearden]

Probably a very simpe answer out there somewhere, so please tell me!

I haven't built from plans before, only kits. The plans I have for a rather large glider, the ASK18, only has a right wing drawing. The plan paper is not transparant, so how do I build the left wing? I thought of "oiling" the plan to make it transparant, but that would ruin the plan.
As I said, I'm sure there is an easy way to do this but I can't think of it yet.
I did get the drawing "photocopied" and reversed, but I lost about an inch in length!

[Danny Fenton]

Hi Michael, you could trace the starboard wing onto tracing paper, then build from the back of the tracing?

[Sandy Wood]

Hi Michael,
If you have a scanner you can scan sections of the wing plan into a drawing package and produce a very accurate copy of the wing which you can then flip over to produce the other side of the wing.
I use a very cheap lexmark printer/scanner (grit your teeth over the cost of the ink cartridges). You do not need a high scan resolution (keeps the imported jpeg file small). Print the drawing out on A4 sheets and stick them together at convenient rib positios. I have access to corel draw which is superb.
If you need help with Corel draw then I can help if you need it. I will be shot down by the experts re my use of Corel draw BUT IT WORKS GREAT FOR ME.
Regards Sandy

[Danny Fenton]

The trouble with that Process Sandy is most photocopiers/scanners enlarge or reduce slightly, for example my canon scanner, full pages have to be printed at 75% for them to be accurate, and over a two meter wing thats going to be a tough one to get exact. Tracing paper, you only need the outlines of major details spar and rib positions, then build on the reverse, I have done it several times like this, at least the two wings are identical in size.

[Sandy Wood]

Hi Danny,
Yes I just read another thread re ASK18 wing and each half is almost 2m span which is somewhat larger than any I have done.
Re scanner I printed an accurate rectangle out using corel draw, then measured it to check the printer and finally scanned )all using the lexmark) the printout back into corel draw. Maybe I was lucky with my printer but it is pretty accurate. (put another way it is as accurate as I can build and probably as accurate as the original plan)

[Michael Dearden]

Gentlemen - many thanks. I think it has to be the tracing paper that wins! I have photocopied in the past and luckily checked the result before building as the copy was only about 95% of the original. OK in small dases but over two meters this is a lot!

[the unmagnificent man]

Hi Michael, I have just built the wings for a biplane and there was only one side drawn. When building the second side I simply placed the wing in front of the one I was building (mirrored) placed the leading edges together and lined up all the ribs. But in the end you have to go with what you feel most comfortable doing. Good luck. Al

[Mike Deans]

Hi, this is a tip I read about many years ago and seems to be part of aeromodelling lore. To get a reverse copy simply spray the plan very lightly with oil, or drip it on, ( just enough and no more ) this makes the plan "transparent" from the other side and so can be seen easily. I have used this method and it works !

Mike

[Dave Caple]

There is a simpler way.BEFORE you start building take a pin and prick through at regular intervals the outline of the ribs, spars, and L/T.E. Flip over the plan, take a 3ft rule and join up the dots! Even sexy wing tips can be done this way if you have French curves or a Flexicurve. If you get the pin located in the centre of the line it is surprising how accurate this method is.

[Michael Dearden]

Hi Dave - many thanks for that useful tip! I always liked joining up the dots when I was a kid!
Great idea.

[Chris Dickens]

I have always used (30+ years of building!!)the oil method, I now used WD40, the added bonus being that you dont need a protective sheet over the plan to stop the glue sticking the model to it.

[Phil Meredith]

hi everyone first time on here, love to plan build,,,
the problem with tracing paper is keeping it still and in the right place, if you pin it down it still moves and tears the tracing, and unless you have a white building board it is dificult to see, oiling the plan as far as i am concerned is a definate no no, the ink seems to fade quicker even if kept in the dark,,,
the simplest way i have found to sort this problem of one wing plans, ans it will work for all sizes, is 100% acurate, place the plan printed side out onto the largest window you have in the house, stick it there with a bit of maskng, get your pencil and ruler and copy away,,
hope this helps phil

[Phil Meredith]

ps forgot to mention this only works in the daytime ha ha ha
phil

[Myron Beaumont]

You need double sided carbon copying paper & as a bonus you'll get 3x 1/2 wing plans ie a spare that you can copy either way again & again using the tried and tested oil method .Put anothersheet of greaseproof paper over the latter to prevent grease getting onto the balsa of course.Using this/these method(s) I have several useless left & right wing halves I could send to whomever can make some use of maybe one of them & of course using my method a sort of chainmail thing could be started whereby everybody has at least 1/2 a wing of somesort which would be instantly available somewhere/anywhere to be copied /sold/reversed/whatever !Hope this information doesn't contravene copy right laws !If it does, Blame the carbon paper makers (if they still exist)

[leigh hodson]

if you use wd40 it eventually dries up and the plan goes back to normal.

[Michael Dearden]

Gentlemen - many thanks for all the suggestions. Due to changed circumstances (disappearing space!) I'm cheating on this one for the time being and have asked Barry at "Foamwings" to make me a pair! I still have plenty to do as I have never worked in this medium before.
The original reason for this thread was because, a few years ago I built a Tiger Moth from plan and had a problem. I got my company to "copy" the wing details in reverse to get over this problem. This, unbeknown to me until I had built the wings, introduced another problem. A "copy" is not always 100% and one wing was 1/2" shorter than the other!

[Peter Miller]

I ALWAY Draw both wings on my plans, they don't often use them when doing the magazine plan. My suggestion is to use Paraffin, the reason is that this will make the plan transparent and stop the glue sticking to it but it dries out and so the plan goes back to its original state.

[Michael Dearden]

Thank you Peter, and everybody who took the time to help out.
This time I've decided to be lazy and go for foam cored wings as I've never worked with them either and quite fancy it. See how it goes and maybe cut my own in the future.
Even at almost 69, still keen to learn new tricks!