Grumman TBM/TBF Avenger Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
building the wings

I built the wings as a sandwich from Styrofoam and veneer.
The kernel ist styrofoam. I cut it with a hot conductor, heated by electric current.
To connect it I used a special "pu-glue" which is foaming a little before it is drying.
So I received a very reliable construction.

The Avenger has a fixed "letter-box" in it´s wings. I cut it from the wing part, shortened the piece and fixed it in again.

To make the wing best fit to the fusealage I added a small stripe of styrofoam.
I painted the contour of the fuselage to the wing and sanded it carefully.
The edges of the wings are made from styrofoam as well.
For more details I added panel borders before I put the wings unter a glassfiber.

Next thing to do was to cut the ailerons and the flaps from the wings.
Here you can see the left wing even with the slot for the aileron-rudermachine and space
for the main gear. The flaps are fixed by piano hinge which I produced from bowden wire by cutting all cm a peace off it.

By the different colours you can see the construction of the piano hinge very well.
A 2mm steal filament connects both sides. It is just slid in and it is easy to remove.
Like the prototype my Avenger has ribs at it´s flaps. Each has a different size.

Gluing the ribs to the flaps.
The effort was worth it. Only 57 gram which is about 2 oz.

And 26 gram - less then 1 oz.
In their new working place the flaps look really good.
Only a little colour is missing ...

The aileron hinges lie outside the wing under the ailerons.
I made the hinges from aluminium and glued a bearing from brass into them for
smooth working.

     
Stay tuned - next time I´ll show you how I made the tail details
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date 05/2010