Rear strut???

[pmanton]

Can someone point me to a picture of how the opening in the wing for the rear strut is finished off? Looking at drawing 4-547 it appears that the rear strut enters the wing through a standard inspection ring. This would leave a pretty big opening for critters unless it is somehow closed off.

Thanks much
Paul
N2426E

[jepropst]

Paul,
Prior to recovering my wings, I mounted the wings on the aircraft, adjusted the washout, and connected all the rigging (Bill Pancake insisted that I do this prior to covering, and in hindsight, I’m glad I did). While the wings were mounted and aligned, I took several pieces of cardboard and made templates to fit around the rear struts. I indexed the templates to known locations so that I could locate them after the wing was covered. I used the same size doilies that I covered the inspection rings with, to cover the location where the rear strut went through the wing. The template was used to cut out the opening for the strut. Using this method, I ended up with a fairly tight seal around the strut.
Rather than using the standard plastic inspection ring between the doily and the fabric, I used a piece of plastic from a plastic "For Sale" sign with the outside diameter the same as a standard inspection ring but with the inside cut out from the template.

[Dennis]

First, I measured the angle (cut a large template) between the wing and strut on a flying champ. With my wing upside down on the rebuild table, I placed the rear strut in position at the angle previously measured and positioned the inspection ring.

I have not covered the balance of the hole, YET! When I get around to it, I'll fabricate a strut fairing like on a Citabria.

However, I like jepropst idea of cutting a custom fit ID inspection ring.

Dennis

[pmanton]

Thanks guys you've given me some ideas.

Paul

[james gevay]

Here's a photo I took of a real nice Tri-Champ at Oshkosh this year.