Cessna 140 Wing Stands Modified to Fit Fly Baby Upper Wing Panels

When I recovered the Cessna 140 wings I made some wing stands which allowed me to rotate the wing, making the process a lot easier. On the Cessna wings the root rib is perpendicular to the leading edge and the spars extend past the root rib making it easy to attach to them. Because the spars extend past the root rib you can shrink the fabric and apply all the finishes with the stand attached.

At the tip I was able to use a wooden plug in the navigation light socket to attach the tip stand.  It wasn't so easy on the Fly Baby wings.

The geometry and construction of the stands are explained in the C-140 blog posting.

The root rib on the Fly Baby wing is 9 degrees out of square and on the upper wings the spars end flush with the root rib so there is nothing to attach to.  At the tip end the only way is to clamp onto the wing tip tube after the fabric is tight and has a coat of Poly-Brush.

At the root end I built some spar extenders to attach to my existing stand.

The wing fitting bolt holes at the root were opened with a soldering iron I modified for opening drain grommet holes.

The extenders bolt onto the root end of the spars so their pivot holes are aligned perpendicular to the wing.

I screwed a piece of 2x4 between them to make them into a rigid structure.  I didn't want to cause any strange loads on the spars.

To make it all work with the C-140 root fixture I added a piece of 3/4" schedule 40 PVC pipe to keep the wing from sliding forward.  On the C-140 the fixture is between the spars so the wing can't move fore or aft.  If I weren't lazy I could have made a fixture which fit the spar extenders.  The wing sets a little nose heavy but it works fine.

The plate with the circle of holes allows the wing to be locked at every 15 degrees when rotating it.

To allow the tip to pivot I used a piece of 1/2" schedule 40 PVC pipe with one end flattened.  The clamps are just some pieces of 3/4" plywood with sort-of round step cuts so it can clamp securely on the 3/4" tip bow tube.  Wing nuts tighten it on.  I've replace the long bolts you see with some 2 1/2" carriage bolts.  You just tighten it with the wing nuts.

A Tee is pushed on to the free end to hold it in the stand, simple but it works.

The stand will be perfect for Rib lacing and all of the tapes except at the root rib and tip bow.  I'll have to use the saw horses for those.  I'll also have some touch-up spraying on the finish coats. Still better than doing it all on the saw horses.