The Taylorcraft BC12D did not use rib stitching, it uses the Taylorcraft Wire Clips. Today, you can buy an FAA PMA-approved Martin Wire Clips from Aircraft Spruce, so I decided to use it, also to avoid having to get a field approval for the rib stitching. The result was poor.
As explained on the Taylorcraft forum the spacing of the new wire is slightly bigger than the original NOS wire, so the new wire does not lay flat on the fabric. Someone recommended buying Z pliers and put a Z in the wire. I tried, this is the result.
Martin Wire with Z bends
It was probably acceptable, but I was not happy. I read all what there is to read on the Taylorcraft Forum and I discovered that “drude” (this is his alias on the Taylocraft forum) had still some of the original wire. I bought 240 ft. Someone said that 210 ft are enough, but this wire has a clip every 3 inches, enough for the ribs not in the slipstream. For the two ribs in the slipstream the procedure is to install two staggered wires to get a clip every 1.5 inches. This requires a total of 240 ft. Thank You drude! This is the result and the difference is amazing.
Original Wire
This is the top of the right wing with the wire installed over the Polyfiber reinforcing tape.
Right Wing with Martin Wire
Now I can start with the reinforcement tapes!
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