So after asking for opinions and advice on homebuilt ultralights I decided that over the next 2-3 years I wanted to build my own Legal Eagle. I also decided that I wanted to share my general experience on more than the building process.

This won't exactly be a quick build thread but I do plan on updating it regularly with useful information.

Updates coming soon,
-Sam

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Very cool! Looking forward to your progress!

I'd thought I'd share my somewhat modular wing rib jig. It's made out of commen 3/4" plywood from the local Home Depot that's cut to 60" long and 24" wide.

Two things I highly recommend doing:
-Drawing as straight of a line as you can draw parallel to the long edge of the board about 3" from that edge for the whole length of the board. This is going to be the underside of the wing.
-Draw out two lines perpendicular to the line mentioned above. Make sure these lines are exactly 47 3/4" apart. This is the exact length of the wing rib so it's a good idea to measure twice to be sure.

After that's done I just printed out exact copies of all the wing rib templates and glued them to the plywood using the guide lines to be sure it's the exact size and perfectly straight.

Once the rib templates are perfect and glued to the plywood I cut out about 30 small wood blocks and screwed them to the plywood base to hold the cap strips in position for glueing.

One quick tip on the plywood base, raise it about a 1/2" from the worktable and find the center of it. Then screw it to your work table through the center of the board. You can use the tightness of the screw, along with a bubble level, to make sure the plywood sheet is perfectly flat. After all, your wing rib will only be as flat as the base it's built of off.

I'm not completely done with my wing jig but the photo should help show how it's built.

-sam


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Here's a tip for building the ribs. Assuming that you don't mind wasting a small amount of wood/money in order to save significant time:

Cut the small plywood gussets (that get glued to the intersections of the wood sticks) all at once, just making them squares instead of triangles or pie slices. When it comes time to put the gussets on the rib trusses, glue and staple (or glue and nail) them in place so that the corner and two of the sides of the square are in the position shown on the plans. The squares will be oversize. Leave the other half of the square sticking out past the rib.

When the gusset glue joints on both sides of the rib are cured, simply take a router table and a "flush trim" router bit and trim all of the excess plywood squares in one pass. You will wind up with the gussets perfectly matching the airfoil curve of the rib, with no sanding, no tedious trimming.

Some people miter cut each and every gusset individually for a specific intersection of sticks, which takes many many hours of effort, then they painstakingly "block sand" each rib to smooth the gussets into the airfoil shape. The flush trim router will remove the excess gusset and any glue that is squeezed out of the joint instantly.

This could save 30 minutes or an hour on each rib, times 25 or 30 ribs....

Any progress?

Saw this photo and thought of your build, looks like you made a good choice!