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Aileron slave strut fittings

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Robin Tripp

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I got tired yesterday of looking at the tattered fabric on the upper wing on my rebuild. The wings appear to be of the Firebolt design with three hinges. At some point it was recommended to use .250 aluminum for the slave struts bent to the appropriate shape. This appears to be a bodge with a flat piece of aluminium and wooden spacers to locate it. I don’t have Firebolt plans, so I don’t know if the aluminum is part of that design as well. The three hinges seem to be a solution to a problem that didn’t exist as well, my current plans show only two.

As the wings are naked, my options are;
1. Get the Firebolt plans and re-build the ailerons to conform to them.
2. Rebuild everything to Skybolt standard with two hinges and stock slave strut brackets. I have not measured, but visually, one hinge would have to be moved, this would leave me with eight empty bolt holes and four new holes in the spar for the relocated hinge. Not ideal.
3. Leave the three hinges and rebuild as required with stock slave strut brackets.

I am leaning towards option 3. What do you guys think?
 

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