Re: Scratch Building,a beginners guide.Scratch Building WW1 , A Beginners Guide A beg
Streamlined wing struts. Because I just happen to be doing this at this time for the Curtiss wing struts ,this probably is as good a time as any to discuss the making of streamlined struts in wood.
I used basswood for these and made all four struts in one length.Select a scale piece of wood that is straight with the grain running length wise .Take a pencil and on each of the four sides draw a line down the middle.Put a dot on the side that you want the leading edge to be.Now the secret here is to shape the wood to a streamlined shape and not sand off any of the lines.I start with the leading edge and round it first pencil line to pencil line with no flats.Then I work on the trailing edge and shape it a little flatter, again pencil line to pencil line.
When finished all of the original pencil lines should still be visible,this then is the outer profile of your shaped streamlined strut.Finish with a light overall sanding to remove the pencil marks.
