{"id":5455,"date":"2023-05-15T23:23:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T04:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/?post_type=product&p=5455"},"modified":"2023-08-26T11:50:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T16:50:41","slug":"wren","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/?product=wren","title":{"rendered":"Wren Short Kit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Wren is a nice little building project, but the plan is kind of\u00a0funky. \u00a0There are a lot of vague details that just don\u2019t make sense, so I made some\u00a0executive decisions to make sure the parts\u00a0would fit together. \u00a0The bottom of the fuselage in front, the firewall and hatch block, the top bulkheads, and the wing center sections are the main areas that get kind of hazy, but the way I\u2019m cutting the parts they should fit together if you know how to build an airplane.<\/p>\n

While I was drawing the parts I kind of got carried away with my own changes, and I decided that the turtle deck stringers should be 3\/16 x 3\/16 sticks before I noticed that the plan specifies 1\/8 x 1\/4. \u00a0I was going to change it to match the plan, but then I remembered that the wing spars and fuselage longerons are 3\/16 x 3\/16, which means you can use leftover sticks for the turtle deck.<\/p>\n

Another funny thing that doesn\u2019t seem to add up is the engine bearing beams. \u00a0The plan shows notches all the way out to the edges of the firewall, but the fuselage view shows the beams shimmed away from the fuselage sides with 1\/4 inch balsa. \u00a0So I made holes in the firewall 1\/4 inch away from the edges. \u00a0It will be really easy to figure out when you get the parts in your hands, but if you want to forgo the entire issue you can use the extra parts included in the kit, with no holes for engine beams, and just mount your engine on a nylon mount, or use a firewall mounted electric motor if you\u2019re into that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

The chin section of the fuselage is supposed to be covered with 1\/8 inch balsa, but that doesn\u2019t help your efforts to attach the landing gear, so I\u2019m supplying birch and lite ply pieces for this area. \u00a0Assemble the fuselage sides with the lite ply doublers, then bulkheads A and B. \u00a0Lay the 1\/8 birch ply landing gear plate into the notch, then cover it with the lite ply fuselage bottom skin, and use 1\/8 balsa in front of the lite ply piece. \u00a0The plywood will provide a good foundation for landing gear and screws.<\/p>\n

The only really tricky modification I\u2019ve made is that I split Bulkhead A (the firewall) into two pieces, top and bottom. \u00a0Build the fuselage with\u00a0bottom A\u00a0flush with\u00a0the top of the fuselage sides. \u00a0Stick top\u00a0A onto a block of balsa and use it as a guide for sanding the hatch block to shape. \u00a0The tricky bit is that the hatch block sits on top of bottom\u00a0A, and top A hangs down 1\/4\u2033 below the hatch block and overlaps in front of\u00a0bottom\u00a0A to keep fuel residue out of the fuselage, and to provide a handy way of attaching the hatch. \u00a0It\u2019s attached by screws\u00a0that go through top A into bottom A from the front.<\/p>\n

\"wrenhatchdetail\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wren is a nice little building project, but the plan is kind of\u00a0funky. \u00a0There are a lot of vague details that just don\u2019t make sense, so I made some\u00a0executive decisions to make sure the parts\u00a0would fit together. \u00a0The bottom … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4709,"template":"","meta":[],"product_cat":[35],"product_tag":[58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/product\/5455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproduct_cat&post=5455"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproduct_tag&post=5455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}