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« Last post by Isotope on January 17, 2026, 07:15:05 PM »
Stock Briggs 23hp with Bandit Airdrives 1:68 drive and Ultra Prop II 60" with 8* pitch blocks. 30mm Nibbi carb with 130 main jet. Deleted governor. Everything else stock. I played with some jets today and settled on the 130 in the Nibbi. I had a max rpm of 4100! super stoked about that. That is a prop speed of 2440rpm with my 1:68 drive and 8* blocks. An online calculator i used shows that to be 35hp at 180 lbs of thrust! Anyway up till about 90% throttle it would max out then past that it would bog down. It did this with every jet i tried and the 130 ran the best through out the throttle range besides the last 10% of max throttle. Do you think i could adjust the needle in or out? Otherwise i think the 130 is the ticket right now. I never would have expected to get these kinds of rpm's stock with a 1:68 ratio.
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« Last post by Kamcoman77 on January 17, 2026, 06:12:42 PM »
I used a bandsaw for cutting almost all the wood and aluminum in my XL. The long pieces, like spars (& angle on them) were cut with my table saw. I did use a miter box and Zona saw for some fine trimming on wing rib pieces. I used a belt sander to make the scarf joints on all my long plywood parts like spar webs. I used a drill press for almost all the drilling. I used a small chop saw to cut my 4130 tubing to rough lengths and tin snips and a bench grinder to shape my fuselage joints. I polished all my aluminum fittings with a 3M convoluted wheel on my bench grinder.
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« Last post by Brock on January 17, 2026, 04:42:32 PM »
I'm not a wood worker, thus I don't have many tools that a woodworker might have. But I do like to get new tools ;-)
So, what tools have you used in building your wings? Specificall (since I'm just about to start the wings) did you use a miter box and hand saw for the butt ends of you your wood? What did you like best for trimming the spar 8* on the spar-cap. I do have a router and a decent battery circular saw so I might figure out some of this.
There are some cool little miter chop saws out there but are they worth it? I don't see myself cutting new molding for the next house renovation.
Edit: didn't mention... Ribs are done, so I'm not working on the small stuff.
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« Last post by Shay King on January 17, 2026, 10:14:20 AM »
Just for info. Homemade bender for the 5/8” tubing. Made from scrap plywood and steel.
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« Last post by Shay King on January 17, 2026, 02:09:22 AM »
Thanks Keith,
That all makes sense now.
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« Last post by Kamcoman77 on January 16, 2026, 08:53:54 PM »
Or you could wrap the nose ply over a small portion of each wing rib to reinforce the rib to spar joint. That is what Pappy Adkins did. Check it out in his build log and videos.
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« Last post by Isotope on January 16, 2026, 08:19:21 PM »
By mistake i did not build my front spar .8mm shorter than the rib to allow for the ply sheet. Not to worried about this as in Les's supplemental wing plans he states that this can be remedied easy by sanding it into a "ramp" or fill putty. After all .8mm is a very small offset. Opinions?
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« Last post by Kamcoman77 on January 16, 2026, 03:08:27 PM »
I think Pappy Adkins has some weights posted in his build log.
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« Last post by Kamcoman77 on January 16, 2026, 01:22:45 PM »
Inner rib, opening goes toward outer tip, other ribs, opening goes toward inside end. I used aluminum tubing with 3/16" ID for my brace wire gusset supports. I used JB-Weld to epoxy them in place. So did my pal who is building his own XL in my shop.
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« Last post by Shay King on January 16, 2026, 10:27:55 AM »
On page 1 of the plans the innermost rib on the stabiliser has the note ‘Flat side’.
Does that mean that rib is on its side, whereas the other two are sharp sides down?
Also, the tubing between the gussets for the 3/16” bolts, what are builders using there. Is it 3/16” inner diameter bushing material or aluminium tubing with a loose fit?
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