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| Photo 1. Fuselage and both wing dollies. |
There are obviously things in this life that are not meant to be done alone,
while others, such as flying a 1-26, were meant to be done strictly solo.
Ordinarily three or more people assemble a 1-26; actually, it is more easily
done with only two (with the aid of a sawed-off broomstick or other prop for
one wingtip). Having done it essentially that way for the better part of 1000
times, on rare occasions my ground crew and I would have been happier if each
had been free to do his own thing. This is the story of my answer to the
challenge of doing it all by myself.
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| Photo 2. Fuselage dolly and left side
wing dolly. |
About 10 years ago I bought 1-26 #320 with a partner. We immediately decided
that since our pretty bird had never been stored outside either at a tiedown or
on the trailer, we ought to build her a private "hangar," and so a huge
slabsided aluminum shed on wheels came into being. It took some planning to
make sure things could fit or roll in and out of it. Because the 1-26 is not
the smallest of birds, we soon found that we needed three dollies - one for the
fuselage, and one for each wing. These helped to get the pieces in and out
without damage, yet fast and efficiently.
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| Photo 3. Using wing dolly to remove the
wing from the trailer. |
The result is that two people can normally assemble or disassemble and box #320
in 15 minutes without rushing, or take 11 to 12 minutes in more pressing
situations. That includes installing the horizontal stabilizer each time (and
keeping extra hands out of the process as well, for we quickly found that each
person in excess of two added confusion and an extra 5 minutes to the
assembly).
The dollies are pretty simple: two wheels each and a few aluminum bars and
tubes, shown in Photos 1, 2 and 3.
The important thing is that one person can easily and safely box or unbox the
pieces, including both proper placement in the field on the grass or back in
the box. The next logical step is to find a simple way to complete the assembly
without the second crewperson.
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| Photo 4. Helper "U" on left wing tip. |
Why? There are times when I wanted to get airborne early, yet no one was
available to help assemble. Other times, everyone but the tow pilot was
airborne and help was not at hand (or those available are complete strangers to
soaring or have "bad backs," etc.). Finally, there have been times when
everyone else wanted to go home early when I was having a great time and would
have enjoyed another hour or so aloft if I hadn't needed extra hands to
disassemble and pack it away for the day.
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| Photo 5. Attatching the left wing. |
So the lone-pilot-assembly project began to take shape.
I decided it was not worth very many hours of construction time, nor would I
want to load an already overloaded trailer assembly with bulky ladders, rolling
carts, collapsible stands etc., and I certainly didn't want to spend a bundle
on new custom material. So it had to be simple, light, yet safe and easy to
use.
An analysis of what the second man does at the wingtip convinced me that all I
needed was something to hold that end up at the proper angle while I worked at
the fuselage end. The solution was provided by a single 10-ft. piece of
three-quarter inch electrical conduit with just two bends made with a
conventional bender. The end product is an inverted U with two pieces of
one-eighth inch parachute cord from which to hang the wing. (Photo 4 shows how
it works.) If that's not completely enlightening, the following step-by-step
details may help.
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Wings are on grass next to fuselage on its dolly; tiedown eye bolt is installed
upside down in one wing.
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Helper U is placed over tiedown eye of one wing with legs on ground about an
inch farther out than the eye. (This prevents the wing from pulling away from
the fuselage when the root end is lifted.)
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Clip spar sling to eye by lifting wingtip, or tie line to eye, pull tip up, tie
line on U.
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Install bent aluminum clip to trailing edge of wing and tie off on U so as to
establish proper wing tilt fore and aft. (See Photo 4.)
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Grasp highest fuselage frame behind cockpit with inboard hand. Reach down and
pick up spar as shown in Photo 5. Since it is only a few inches from fuselage,
and Helper U is already slanted slightly inward, wing will want to move toward
fuselage more forcefully the closer it gets. Move entire ship fore and aft, or
rock gently sideways to get spar in pocket. Drag-spar end will hold its proper
set or tilt if attach bolt has it under design tension.
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Return to outboard end to push the last inch or so home, possibly readjusting
sling height a bit. (Photo 5A)
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Return to ship. Grasp high frame and rock fuselage as necessary side-to-side to
slide spar bolts in with other hand. (If you are still using a hammer on yours,
forget the whole thing. Though #320 has been assembled/disassembled about 100
times per year for the past 11 years, we proved the hammer unnecessary for
slightly greased pins by our second or third assembly back in 1968.) Pull ship
fore and aft to align drag-spar pin for insertion.
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Do not do these things blindly. Instead, adjust the spar in its pocket so the
holes line up by eye before trying to force pins and bolts home. (An extra few
seconds of care doing that can facilitate assembly by three or four people, as
well as with only one, while preventing unnecessary wear to attachment points.)
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Return to tip and hold wing up while removing tiedown eye bolt. In same hole,
install broomstick with bolt to hold wing up while installing the other one.
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The installation of the second wing is like the first except a bit harder
because the fuselage and assembled first wing are harder to move fore and aft
and provide almost no side-to-side rocking ability. Consequently, most
alignment adjustments must be made at the Helper U end by changing sling length
or actually moving the U a bit fore and aft to fine things up, resulting in a
few more trips back and forth.
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Photos 6 and 7 show the left wing stand and the assembly of the right wing.
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My quickie pins help speed things a bit. The first time, I required about 30
minutes to assemble and about 20 minutes to disassemble. Since then, I
installed two small homemade jam cleats on top of the U to greatly facilitate
changes in sling-length tip-height adjustments.
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| Photo 5a. Attatching the
left wing. |
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| Photo 6. Attaching right
wing. |
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| Photo 7. Attatching the righ wing. |
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Despite the "Crazy Harry" comments from club buddies, I don't plan to use the
Helper U when another suitable crewperson is available. But the two or three
dollars and two or three hours I have invested in it mean that I will get a bit
more fun out of #320 sometime or other (if that's possible).
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| Attaching right wing. |
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| Fuselage dolly and right side wing dolly. |
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| Fuselage dolly and right side wing dolly. |
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| Rear canopy hanging from trailer. |
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| Attaching the left wing. |
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