Willy Nillies Ace Littlest Stick Build

[Joker 53150]

Here's the wing update for the WN Littlest Stick kit. It appears that I DO have the right parts for this build, but also a number of extra pieces as well that won't be needed. I travel for work and was able to meet Doug in person to help figure this out, as well as to take delivery on 3 more WN kits. He also brought along a finished (uncovered) wing for me to review which was very helpful.

From our conversation, the Littlest Stick kit has gone through multiple versions since I bought it ~5 years ago, so some info found online may not be 100% accurate for my kit. Some components like the leading & trailing edges are longer so they could be used in multiple kits, not a bad plan on WN's part. These leading & trailing edges will need to be cut-down by one rib-bay on each side and I'll end up with the correct overall length, plus that will make the ailerons fit properly. Doug did strongly suggest adding a small amount of dihedral into the wing instead of my plan to do a flat wing - I'll take his advice when I get that far.

During our conversation I also asked some questions about the wing on the Super Sport 250 (pictured a few posts back), and he confirmed my suspicions. I'll make another build thread for that kit with a bunch of pictures, but for now, the wing kit with the Super Sport 250 is one of the most interesting and flexible designs I've ever seen!

 

[LitterBug]

VERY cool!

 

[Piotrsko]

I'm appropriately jealous

 

[Joker 53150]

Here are some pictures of the wing Doug brought when we met this week, which could be useful for anybody planning to build this plane. Not pictured is the spacer that attaches to the trailing edge of the wing between the ailerons. This pretty much answers the questions I had regarding my wing kit, other than why I've got so many extra ribs, but that's much better than having too few!

 

[Joker 53150]

Moving on with the wing work finally, thanks to Doug taking the time to meet and discuss the project. To achieve the 21.75" wing width called for I had to remove two rib sections from the end of each wing. I could have just done one, but too late! Below shows how the leading/trailing edge sections are quite a bit longer than needed. The right wing has been trimmed to length, the left is about to be cut.

With both wings trimmed I could start test-fitting more pieces, like the wing tips and ailerons. The ailerons will need to be cut to length as well once I get that far in the project. Here's where I noticed some new issues, this time with the sheeting for the center of the wing. The pieces as-supplied aren't wide enough to fully bridge the ribs, so I'm cutting new pieces from my stock of balsa sheeting. I'm guessing that an earlier version of the wing had extra ribs towards the center or used this particular sheeting, which wasn't updated in my kit. Note that I've got a dozen ribs left over, which was really confusing me early in this build. I've built a number of balsa kits and it's exceedingly rare to get EXTRA parts! At first glance, I think the trailing section that gets installed between the ailerons may also be a bit undersized for the fuselage's wing saddle, but again that'll be easy to fix by cutting new pieces.

 

[L Edge]

One thing nice you and some others is showing the new generation(foam users) of how the "oldsters" used to build.

That's how you get a good handle of how a plane handles the bending, torsion etc. back in the old days. That way when you design a foam or 3D plane, it shows where and how it handles the forces and moments needed to keep the foam from bending, snapping, as well as doing firewalls and landing gear.

 

[Joker 53150]

"oldsters"

Well, I didn't feel old this morning until I saw that...!

 

[Bricks]

Since you have extra ribs could just add two to where they will fit the covering sheet of balsa. Are you going to cover this in translucent covering that would be so cool?

 

[LitterBug]

Well, I didn't feel old this morning until I saw that...!

I REFUSE TO GROW UP!!!! I am still 12......

 

[cyclone3350]

I've been out for sometime myself. Did a thread on a Gee Bee D back in the spring of '22 and never finished it. Thanks for posting. If I can get back to building, I will finish that one for sure. BTW, i'm watching the sport 250 also.

 

[Willy Nillies]

Hey Jeff!

I was nice to meet you and help you figure out your questions. I'll be sure to check in here more regular to see if any other questions come up.

Sincerely,
Doug
WillyNillies.com

 

[Piotrsko]

Rats. I was kinda hoping for a stretch wing version. Well just because.

 

[Joker 53150]

Since you have extra ribs could just add two to where they will fit the covering sheet of balsa. Are you going to cover this in translucent covering that would be so cool?

I thought about shaving a few of the ribs down to size, but in the end figured that just re-cutting the sheeting was easiest. Translucent is a possibility, that's still to-be-determined. I've got a lot of options now after picking up about 8 more colors from Doug last week...!

 

[Joker 53150]

Hey Jeff!

I was nice to meet you and help you figure out your questions. I'll be sure to check in here more regular to see if any other questions come up.

Sincerely,
Doug
WillyNillies.com

Good to meet you as well, Doug! Thanks for taking the time and for bringing the kits & covering, I still find it funny that my travel had me going within a couple miles of you last week.