Top Sheeting

Before the top sheeting is added, cradles have to be made to support the wing. I made these out of 1/2" balsa. Once the glue is dry it's time to start on the next wing panel.

Shear Webs and LE Sheeting

After both spars have glued, the next step is to fit the shearwebs. This is a bit fiddly as each one has to be cut and fitted individually and then they all have to be glued in position and the wing put back in the jig.




Shearweb fitting in progress. Had to take a break to eat before I got into trouble with the Boss.





Finished shearweb. The marks are to remind me which way round to fit each one as they all have a slight taper.






Fitting the underside leading edge sheeting. Again the wing has to weighted down in the jig.

Spar & Sheeting

Next step is fitting the bottom spar and the rear sheeting. The spar is 1/8" x 1/2" spruce which has to be tapered to 3/8" at the tip.

Work Starts On The Wings

Started work on the wings. Really feel like I'm getting somewhere now.

The wings are built inverted on a simple jig arrangement to keep everything straight.




The first few ribs in place








Overview of the wing so far. Spars, sheeting, shearwebs etc still to go.







It all lines up perfectly, things are going better than I expected.

Making the Ribs

Making the ribs is actually quite straightforward once you have the templates.

I bought some hard 1.5mm balsa as the traditional quarter grain balsa for ribs doesn't seem to be about. Cut lots of blanks, bolt them together, razor plane, sanding block, file and it's job done.




1. Blanks, templates, nuts and bolts ready to be assembled

2. The block ready for shaping








3. Work in progress








4. Ready to be dismantled








5. The finished items, numbered and ready to go.





That's one set done. Now to repeat the whole procedure, remembering to make a set for the opposite panel.

Work Begins

Construction starts with the wings.

The first thing to do is to make the root and tip templates needed to make the ribs. I made mine out of aluminium sheet rather than 1/16 ply. I photocopied the relevant section of the plan, cut out the templates and glued them to the ali sheet.

An hour or two's work with saw, drill and files and a couple of templates are ready for making the ribs by the sandwich method.

Never made ribs by this method before so I'm quite looking forward to it. Time to start cutting balsa!

Getting Started

Why build a Phase 5?

I learned to fly on a Middle Phase nearly 30 years ago at Butser Hill. One of the guys that helped me out was Joe Brazier who was a huge Foss fan and had built most of Chris' designs. My favourite was his Phase 5 and when I progressed onto ailerons Joe would let me fly it occasionally as a reward for good behaviour. I have very fond memories of the Phase 5 as the performance was unbelievable compared to my scruffy orange aileron Middle Phase.

I always wanted a Phase 5 of my own but it had a reputation as a difficult build so I never got around to it. I then discovered blue foam and vacuum bagging with my friend Eric Henderson and we went off Open Pylon racing and all thoughts of anything as old fashioned as balsa ribs went out of the window.

About three years ago my interest was re-kindled so I contacted Chris and got him to send me a plan. The project has been on the back burner since then for various reasons but this year I decided to go for it. I was lusting after an aerobatic plane and decided on a bit of balsa bashing rather than cutting foam and mixing epoxy. Didn't fancy spending too much money; Vectors and VoltiJs are all very well but how many Phase 5's do you see about the place?

I have now made a start. I spent an interesting hour or so in Mainly Planes n Trains with the plans in one hand selecting the balsa and spruce needed to build the airframe. Not something I have done in a long time!

More soon once the actual building starts.