The carbon fiber locating pin at the front of the wing is now secured with a couple half-ribs and sheeting top and bottom, so I figure it isn't going anywhere without a fight. Sheeting on the top of the wing was a little more involved than doing the bottom as the top has more curve above the leading edge than the bottom has. To do it I first scuffed up the leading edge with sandpaper and gave it a little coating of epoxy. The top sheeting was then secured down to it, but only at the leading edge - I didn't glue down the rest of the sheet yet as that would force the front edge of the sheet to lift away from the CF leading edge. Once the epoxy dried I was able to use a paintbrush to put some glue on the ribs so I could secure the sheet down fully. Easier than it sounds...!
The wing's locating pin goes through a plywood bulkhead which would normally give it some decent strength, but in this case it's at the very top edge of the bulkhead and the only thing holding it in for sure is the balsa top sheeting, not quite what I'd want to trust. So I cut a rectangle of hardwood, drilled a hole in it, and inserted it into a slot cut in the top of the sheet. It was then glued to the bulkhead with a little epoxy The hardwood and ply together should be enough to keep the wing pin secure.
I didn't get a good "before" picture of it, but this is another one of those little issues with the design that I just don't understand. Lack of instructions don't help... On top of the fuselage right behind the wing is a gap about 1/2" long between the wing and the sheet on top of the fuselage. If the sheeting were slightly longer this would be covered up nicely. But it isn't... On the previous Red Swan build I used some scrap to fill it in - not a big deal. But this time I had a better idea. If you look closely at the back of the wing in this pic you'll see the grain direction on the balsa changes 90 degrees compared to the top sheeting. This is a spacer that I glued to the bottom of the wing.
This pic shows the spacer, which now holds the back edge of the wing centered nicely in the fuselage. I did something similar with the first Red Swan and it worked well, but now I'm killing two birds with one stone. The gap is filled and the wing is kept centered with one piece of balsa. I still need to decide how I'm going to bolt the wing down and where I'll locate the bolt(s), but there is plenty of time for that...! that little extra hanging over the trailing edge is all that is needed to fill the gap mentioned above.
The wing's locating pin goes through a plywood bulkhead which would normally give it some decent strength, but in this case it's at the very top edge of the bulkhead and the only thing holding it in for sure is the balsa top sheeting, not quite what I'd want to trust. So I cut a rectangle of hardwood, drilled a hole in it, and inserted it into a slot cut in the top of the sheet. It was then glued to the bulkhead with a little epoxy The hardwood and ply together should be enough to keep the wing pin secure.
I didn't get a good "before" picture of it, but this is another one of those little issues with the design that I just don't understand. Lack of instructions don't help... On top of the fuselage right behind the wing is a gap about 1/2" long between the wing and the sheet on top of the fuselage. If the sheeting were slightly longer this would be covered up nicely. But it isn't... On the previous Red Swan build I used some scrap to fill it in - not a big deal. But this time I had a better idea. If you look closely at the back of the wing in this pic you'll see the grain direction on the balsa changes 90 degrees compared to the top sheeting. This is a spacer that I glued to the bottom of the wing.
This pic shows the spacer, which now holds the back edge of the wing centered nicely in the fuselage. I did something similar with the first Red Swan and it worked well, but now I'm killing two birds with one stone. The gap is filled and the wing is kept centered with one piece of balsa. I still need to decide how I'm going to bolt the wing down and where I'll locate the bolt(s), but there is plenty of time for that...! that little extra hanging over the trailing edge is all that is needed to fill the gap mentioned above.