I’ve given up on the spruce for the interplane struts and decided to use strip pine wood from B&Q as I did for the undercarriage.
First the blanks are cut out and then bolted together for the final shaping of the profiles.
Once the profiles are correct, a couple of hours with the Dremmel and a sanding block and we have a set of reasonable struts.
The struts will not be attached rigidly to the wings but will be allowed to “swing” slightly in a spanwise direction. To enable this to happen the fixings are (at the moment) closed loop adaptors, which also allow for some adjustment in the effective length of the struts; they are screwed into hardwood blocks drilled and tapped to suit.
The struts themselves will be attached to the fixings by piano wire pins and the whole lot hidden by the interplane bracing wire attachment covers.
I’m having a few doubts about the strength of the closed loop adaptors for this critical job; they are made from brass and I’m wondering if I should really make my own fixings from 2mm threaded steel rod. I’ll certainly give it a go and if it’s not too difficult a job drilling a 1mm hole in 2mm threaded rod then steel fixings it will be!