Need 4 New Spars

DELCOM · Post by **DELCOM** » Sun May 03, 2009 21:51

Hello All: Well I have finally finished the fusealage after 3 1/2 years. I placed it in a hangar at Columbia Airport until I can do the wings. On my pre buy inspection 1 rear showed some cracks and it was deemed that only 1 rear spar would need to be replaced. Well......thats not entirley true. Upon bringing the wings home, I have found that indeed 3 are bad. Just goes to show, you can not do to good of a pre buy inspection. Wish I had known I would have had the opportunity to offer a lower price. OH WELL.
My question to the group is WHO makes the best fitting and nicest availible spars out there? I would really prefer no scarfed spars. I have seen Woodwing Specialitys in Shafter Ca. as a maker and it is only about a 100 miles south of me in central California. Anyone have experience with them?
I know what you all are thinking..........build them. I might but wanted to see what was availible to purchase first. Thanks for reading and look forward to your reply's.

Hey Paul.... Hope to be contacting you sooner that later, perhaps you can teach me to fly this old bird.

Thanks, All Del

SFC Hiatt · Post by **SFC Hiatt** » Sun May 03, 2009 21:57

What makes you think they are bad? Spars are mis diagnosed almost as much as swine flu...

DELCOM · Post by **DELCOM** » Sun May 03, 2009 22:04

They are not even close to CAR 43.13 specs. pretty obvious.

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Sun May 03, 2009 22:51

I bought mine (all four) from Wag Aero. They were acceptable other than the outer end had to be 'modified' slightly to get the bow fittings to fit. From what I remember they were too thick by about 1/16 or so and had to be sanded down. At least all the holes were in the right place and drilled correctly. I'd thought about building my own with the help of my wood working brother but finally decided that if I was to ever finish the project in a reasonable amount of time it was best to bite the bullet and buy new.....about $670 each. Also, shipping was an issue for me. You may be closer to a better source like Air Craft Spruce.

Mike Berg

Post by **joea** » Sun May 03, 2009 23:01

Aircraft Spruce or Rainbow Ron might be good sources for spars.

If you get a chance, could you pls post pics of the cracks so that others know what to look for and where?

There is also a tread from Tim in the LAX area in this section about building your own spars that is a very good tool.

Thx,

Joe A

k2bords · Post by **k2bords** » Sun May 03, 2009 23:15

I purchased my spars from Pete at woodwing specialty. I'm still working on the wings and have yet to put anything back together yet but the spars sure do look awful pretty in the crate! The other options I looked at were Wag and precision aero marine (http://www.precisionam.net/). Precision was on the low end with a set of spars about 2200 or so, and pete was on the high end - about 700 more for the set. The difference? Pete's came completely finished. No sanding or finishing of any kind - I hope

Matt

DELCOM · Post by **DELCOM** » Sun May 03, 2009 23:48

Matt
Are they scarfed or one piece? Pete's about 2 hours south of me. How long ago did you get them?
Thanks everyone for your replies, nice to get some fresh info combined with all that is availible with the search function. Please more info.

Del

s35pilot · Post by **s35pilot** » Mon May 04, 2009 00:15

Hi Del,

I'm sure you are aware that I built my own spars, but in doing my research prior to building, I talked with most the spar suppliers. I also, talked with a guy I met at the airport(Long Beach), who has since became a friend and also has a banner flying business and 12 Scouts (8GCBC), these Scouts have all been converted with long range wings, in the process they were rebuilt with new spars so, he does have a little experience. He said if you want the best spars (they do happen to be the most expensive) buy Pete's at Woodwing Specialty, he showed them to me and I have to say, they were beautiful.
I was going to have Pete build mine but, with his existing orders at that time , I would of had to wait 6 months.
Now, 2 months ago Bob (the guy with the Scouts) ask me to put a set of wings together for him with a set of spars that came from Ron at Rainbow, which I did. The spars were drilled properly and all hardware fit nicely, the only draw back was the finish, so I sanded them and put 2 coats of EV 400 varnish on them and they finished out real nice.
I not sure what the cost of Ron's spar are but, if you don't mind doing a little refinishing they are a good spar. Pete's just happen to be finished better. I think you could also drive down to Pete's and pick them up. He offered, if I wanted to wait for him he would meet me 1/2 way.
Well, that's my 2 cents.
Tim

DELCOM · Post by **DELCOM** » Mon May 04, 2009 01:10

Tim
Thanks for the input, I was hopeing that you would chime in with your two cents. If I had a little more wood skillset a few more wood tools I would probably go the rought you did and make them. But as fate would have it Im a metal guy. I have not really given much time to this yet, Im guilty of wanting to finish up the fusealage first knowing the wings were yet to come. To tell the truth I was always thinking that I would be building my own from a blank as I seem blessed with a great IA to work under. As Mike suggested ........ there is a little of me that says buy them and finish this and go fly.
The tooling that you produced and the info that you have shared with us all is excellent and would be invaluable to someone making their spars. Make no mistake about it, your info is great. Thanks all for responding I know we have gone over this before.

Del Chase

Paul Agaliotis · Post by **Paul Agaliotis** » Mon May 04, 2009 16:44

Del,
Pete will make you a good set of spars. The freight will kill you if you get them shipped. In fact I typically run down to Aircraft Spruce in Corona to transport my spar blanks. The wood will cost you about 900 so figure the cost from there.
Any time you need to get an Aeronca fix give me a holler. I have the L16 and a 7AC at Livermore. Let me know where the cracking on the spars are located some of the defects are repairable. The AD is poorly written and I have seen a bunch of spars rejected due to repairable defects.
Paul

jkvincent · Post by **jkvincent** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 18:37

It's not so much the Freight $$ I would be worried about,
Freight from Georgia to Houston was $125. (for 4 blanks 18' long),
problem was 2 of the blanks were distroyed by a Fork Lift,
and yes it was all taken care of but none the less ...a big headache
and delays.
If you get'em by Freight (Ready Made or Blanks), make certain they
are carefully inspected BEFORE THE DRIVER LEAVES !
Jim