Aviation Coming Eventually

After the burst of activity that was sourcing drag wire stock I let the project lag again. I don't know why. Excuses range from "busy working", to "I didn't feel like it", to "the garage is a disaster." Any way, I'm back at it again for a little while. Some ancillary projects were completed, flashback arrestors on the welding torch and cleaning a sticky regulator, cleaning the garage, and building adjustable sawhorses for wing assembly. Adjustable sawhorse. Leveling feet. I got a coat of zinc-phosphate primer on my finished wing fittings to stave off rust.  Last night I finished preparing the new aileron control horns. I bent the old ones wrong and they cracked slightly, unairworthy but useful for practice. The new ones are bent correctly and only need some welding completed before they can get primed too. On that vein, I'm practicing my welding and am finally getting some welds I feel goo...

Progress on the airplane has been very limited as of late. It has, however, been made. After a long episode of researching and calculating I have found drag wires.   Not the drag wires the plans call for, but still. The plans want 1050 alloy steel wire to be threaded with a #6-40 thread and retained with what are essentially spoke-nipples from motorcycles wheels. The aircraft rated nipples are about $7 each and I need 24 of them. Spoke nipples are 20 to 50 cents each. We'll, I wasn't going to spend $170 on bolts, but $12 seemed reasonable, so I ordered a bunch of spoke nipples. I had intended to match the thread of the nipples with my drag wire stock, but they are just irregular enough that I couldn't find a thread that matched and it seemed like sending wires out to have the correct thread rolled on wouldn't be worth the effort. So, despite having bought my spoke nipples, I abandoned the idea of using them. Enter the Baby Great Lakes. I researched drag wires and alt...