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Exact wingspan with wingtips OFF?

rmartingt

Well Known Member
Anyone happen to know the exact wingspan with the wingtips off? I'm planning to temporarily fit the wings to do fuel and flight control runs and drill up the rear spar and fairings, and I want to verify that it'll fit in my shop the way I want it to. Scaling the provided drawings doesn't give me consistent answers and though I designed the shop for this situation I hope I didn't miscalculate.



Before anyone suggests it, no, I'm not waiting till I get to the airport to do all this at the end. My nearest feasible airport is 45 minutes away and I'm not leaving months' worth of work to do at that kind of distance when I could do it 50 feet away in my workshop. I want as little work to do upon the airport move as I can manage.
 
I'll be at my hangar later on today. I'll get a measurement for you and reply back later on today if someone else doesn't reply back first.

Mark
 
114 7/8" from the outside edge of the wing skin to the inboard end of the spar.


Anyone happen to know the exact wingspan with the wingtips off? I'm planning to temporarily fit the wings to do fuel and flight control runs and drill up the rear spar and fairings, and I want to verify that it'll fit in my shop the way I want it to. Scaling the provided drawings doesn't give me consistent answers and though I designed the shop for this situation I hope I didn't miscalculate.



Before anyone suggests it, no, I'm not waiting till I get to the airport to do all this at the end. My nearest feasible airport is 45 minutes away and I'm not leaving months' worth of work to do at that kind of distance when I could do it 50 feet away in my workshop. I want as little work to do upon the airport move as I can manage.
 
Thanks, but that's just the one wing. I'm looking for wingspan with both wings installed but the tips off...

gotcha, 112" from outer 1/4" bolt to the end of the wing skin x2 plus 40 9/16" for the center section between those holes.

so 264 9/16"

The measurement for the center section is the lower outside bolts and lower spar bolts on the wing, there not the same spacing as the top.
 
Last edited:
gotcha, 112" from outer 1/4" bolt to the end of the wing skin x2 plus 40 9/16" for the center section between those holes.

so 264 9/16"

The measurement for the center section is the lower outside bolts and lower spar bolts on the wing, there not the same spacing as the top.

Ooooh, that's going to be tight...might only have 2-3 inches on each wingtip if I go crosswise. Guess I'll be playing on Visio a bit more to see if there's another way I could fit it in...
 
Ooooh, that's going to be tight...might only have 2-3 inches on each wingtip if I go crosswise. Guess I'll be playing on Visio a bit more to see if there's another way I could fit it in...

remember, there's about 5 inches of spar that slides inside the fuse. If you don't have about a foot of extra width you'll need to insert one wing and then slide the fuse and wing over to get the other wing inserted.
 
remember, there's about 5 inches of spar that slides inside the fuse. If you don't have about a foot of extra width you'll need to insert one wing and then slide the fuse and wing over to get the other wing inserted.

The plan is to have the roll-up doors open for installing the wings so that won't be an issue. My concern is being able to close the doors. Fuselage is on a rolling cart that I'll chock in place and level once the wings are on (so I can drill the aft spar).

I'll probably have to crawl under the wings to go work on stuff but once the necessary work is done I'll remove them.

(I built the shop 24ft wide, take off 6" on each side for 2x6 stud and drywall, then a couple more inches for rollup door tracks... it's awful tight.
 
Can be done one wing at a time with careful measuring & plumb lines on the floor. Support front end & tail cone solidly so incidence can be compared accurately side to side. As far as rigging the controls, doesn?t take long after it?s final assembled at the airport.
 
Diagonal

I did it. My garage is 22'x19'. I drew it up so I could ballpark where the fuse needed to be located diagonally then a helper and I installed the wings. It was really tight and I spent a lot of time rolling under with a rolling mechanics stool. It can be done.
Once the fuse was located and leveled, I marked the floor so it could be repeated later.
The wings were easy. Place one on two saw horses set so the spar is aligned. Stab it in and insert the pins. Repeat on the other side with two more saw horses. You have to adjust height back and forth till she's all level. Don't pull saw horses or it tips. You need four for the wings plus whatever you use for the fuse. I put my fuse on the EAA work benches.
 
I built an RV-8 so it was a bit narrower, and I fit my wings in a 24'x24' space with about 14" to spare on each side. Quite tight, but I managed. I also managed to forget to put my pushrods in the wings, and it inspired me to create this meme. Hope you don't have to go through this... it was a nightmare.
4KwkWV0vQRsFyfRs69DGmq9U3aC8eIH2MtJYcAmcUmoUOndAgdpY7nemXE-vR8yCnYc7BRNSThTZZhYXWSPfkZ--zDRrc8ejlbGzqKnCFfLNbLJWf6J_0HZkTyt9cEHsOdFntJ4IQrevZHcONgN1mVpS14vdY8Vvu_DkeMnjP6GWRu_D3dUvykiJ3FAbl7mSmXsO4OvrqPPFssOq6C1idD3k7falFIrWJXVBclgNd7ksxyRsn4onp3R_MIevq9sSkmDdcqQX0ac_cjU13AFjreq7zjq0SaeDFMyJtVaPUQe4nqdJk-cpMza78SZGu06Ov0dSWTkxufYdS27pnn0uz_DY8kmBrPdXayxL4k0GpHk4CukMabaq3tOI9fFOwNZ4uPY7PWbm1OPclQPXliz-R2HusNne5cD91CJkbTLMQ6F2bf0wkVwsF0iBXk7LLcmd1lGSmoigESKSW7pTyC6bKgSgR8cAtH78x5JTr4cyafwqFlZeTz2I6cej875rd8_c60sm0VRH7tQgMJPPMTwi19gs29zEEnoI2eLSJSehLpPuKjkLPnULDlm_PHRuCI1ekna9IDHjYX8VghyvNRNIxrRN600016eQWzygwcGRne-hsPEuL6wjmlpX3SaArMzcwVGCfYOxNZS4CSWd_5L3F_Rz=w1350-h900-no
 
I built an RV-8 so it was a bit narrower, and I fit my wings in a 24'x24' space with about 14" to spare on each side. Quite tight, but I managed. I also managed to forget to put my pushrods in the wings, and it inspired me to create this meme. Hope you don't have to go through this... it was a nightmare.

Well, at least my pushrods are already in the wings.

I've managed to get a couple of coworkers on board by bribing them with beer afterward, so once I get the shop rearranged we'll try to get the wings on. Thinking middle of the month.
 
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