Out of curiosity, why would you want to ruin a perfectly good composite airplane by putting metal sheets and rivets on it? There must be some underlying reason you are asking the question. My guess is either a) you are not comfortable with/not convinced of composite structures or b) you have lots of time and extra metal already laying around. If it's just to be different, I suggest you stick to the plans or get a sonex/rv/etc... I'm leaning more towards "a" though.
The work involved in building a metal wing FAR, FAR, FAR exceeds that of the wood/foam/glass wing, so no benefit there. I very much doubt you will get it lighter or stronger with metal vs. composite in this size aircraft. I'll say it again, I'm all for design evolution and would never shoot down anyone's ideas for the hell of it, but sometimes I have to speak up and say this - IF you don't already know MOST of the pros and cons of making an important structural change such as this, you certainly aren't qualified to do so, and probably shouldn't be even thinking seriously about it. It's great to learn, and doing things/asking questions is how you do that, yes, but it's a slippery slope. Sometimes great ideas come of out hypothetical discussions like this and therefore shouldn't be discouraged too much, but safety should be priority one. The turtledeck shouldn't be much of a problem, but you are going to be limited to a straight lofted shape (single curvature) unless you have some fancy equipment (english wheel, etc) and the skills to run it. Most people do a straight loft (template on either side, sand away the middle) anyway, so that point may be moot, but I digress. That said, I don't see any real benefits to speak of. It's tough to judge candor in an email, so don't take this as a thrashing... Just making some observations and relaying some points. My $0.02 FWIW Matt On 1/26/2012 7:49 AM, Robert Boyd wrote: > I sure appreciate all the response on my last question. What a > wonderful group you, or now I can legally say, (WE) KR2'ers are. I > have another one. The project that I am purchasing, KR2S, so far the > wings are not done. Only the spars are done and they are wood. My > question is, what would the pros and cons be of building the wings, > (ribs / skins) our of metal instead of wood or fiberglass? Also how > about using metal to form the rear top deck or turtle deck. > Bob > > _______________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp > to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
