"W P Dixon"
:

Check them out that is, heck my mind was thinking one thing and
fingers typing another...OK finger! I use the Hunt and Peck typing
system! I would like to build it as original, any details on those
problems?

OK, if you're looing at original 30s drawings, the worst fault is the
actualy spar attachment point. I don't have the drawings in fromt of me,
but the fitting welded to the fuse to capture the spar is just a strap bent
around the spar and on the vertical and a single bolt drilled through that
fitting verticaly through the spar. That's the cabin model. The open
cockpit model has just a strap welded to the top of the cabane with the
same bolt inserted vertically through the spar to a strap that binds the
two spars together. Not the best setup, though they did make a lot of those
airplanes and as far as I know it never fell into disrepute.
On the Paul Poberezny revamp for the revived Mechanich Illustrated airplane
in the '50s, that was the major mod he did to the airplane. There are
substantial fittings on each spar end which transmit the load into the drag
anti drag wires and it's a hinge type mating to the cabane struts. This is
the way to go. The rest of the airplane is fairly OK and if you just build
it using standard practices it should be fine. But if you're going two
place, the junior has outrigger gear anyway!
It's a great little airplane, though. I've got a cabin ace on one of the
multitude of backbuners in my head..

Someday, maybe, if I get this one on the front burner finished before I pop
my clogs.



Bertie