Hatz Biplane Association

Hi All,

About ready to get back to the project, I was contemplating attacking the top wings and center section.

I see most people start with the CS, and move on to the wings. But would it not be a good idea to build the two top wings, and then build the CS ?
This has the added advantage of making sure the three pieces connect perfectly (I was thinking connecting the CS spars to the wings spars with hardware, then gluing the CS spars to the CS bottom piece).

Does this make sense to anybody?

Thoughts and opinions welcome!

I suppose you could do it either way, but for me, doing the cc first worked out well. In doing the cc first, I was able to use it to stabilize the spars as I built each of the top wings. I had the wing mounting fittings on the spars which were in turn mounted to the center section fittings. Clamping the cc on the end of my build table made for a stable construction platform. Also, matching the leading and trailing edges to the cc seemed easier than trying to do so in reverse.

Just my take on it.

Orchardair,
That's probably not a bad idea but I did not have a table long enough for the wings and the center section. I built the center section first and used some completed ribs to make sure the spacing was good. When I got the wings finished I did a trial fit out in my driveway and I was quite pleased that it all fit. Since you have not built either yet, be aware that there is a 1/4 inch discrepancy on the plans. I am not sure that anyone knows which section is wrong but the mounting plates for the wing spars and the plates on the center section will be off by 1/4 inch if you follow the plans. If you build the center section first you will need to move the wing fittings up 1/4 of an inch to meet. If you build the wings first then you will need to move the center section fittings down 1/4 of an inch. I guess you could move them each 1/8 and call it good.
If you do a search for "center section" you will find what others have done to correct for this. I moved the plates on the wing spars up 1/4 and was happy with the result.

Good Luck
Ed

Thanks for the replies,
I'll continue mulling it over and figure out.

Keep calm and build on.