UPDATES
CONTINUED
earier
27 DECEMBER 2002
Finished the flap close outs and the aileron tips.
The smell of resin certainly clears out the Christmas hangover.
29 DECEMBER 2002
Second attempt at flap close outs because there
were some small air bubbles. These were drilled out and laid up again
with more epoxy. Peter took his Marigolds off to make us a very nice Spaghetti
Carbonara for lunch. The threads of glass fibre cloth added some extra
texture. Spent the afternoon doing the very fiddly aileron roots which
have a bolt recessed in each one.
The bolt is very fiddly to get in
the right place
31 DECEMBER 2002
Filed off the ends of the flaps and ailerons, then
made the foam pieces for the aileron mass balance weights. These weights
stop the ailerons fluttering in turbulence, because if they flutter too
much the whole aircraft disintegrates causing extreme embarrassment and
a lot of inconvenience.
2 JANUARY 2003
Peter examined Ian's foam pieces for the aileron
mass balance and graded them 'prototype' (=rejects) so he made some himself.
Whatever else happens to this plane, it will certainly have the best looking
set of aileron mass balance tabs when it is finished!
One of these is a reject and one
is OK. Can you tell which is which?
Apparantly, only accountants can do this.
3 JANUARY 2003
Ian cleared up the mess left by Peter then prepared
the ailerons for their hinges. Got it all lined up, put the epoxy flox
on and tried the first pop rivet. This worked perfectly except that the
rivet was not fully through the hole so it missed the hinge. Spent the
next hour drilling it out and started again. Cleared up and left the aileron
on the workbench to cure.
LATER, the same day
Peter arrived home to find that all the lights had
fused. When he went into the garage he discovered a complete mess. The
rack which stores all our metal tubes and assemblies had broken and crashed
down onto the workbench severing an electric cable (hence the blown fuse).
The falling debris also knocked over a container of resin and gouged a
hole in the work top. Incredibly, despite the impact the aileron was undamaged.
Just goes to show how strong these fibre glass structures are.
Here is the offending rack, now rebuilt
to a higher standard
The reason for the failure
of the rack (which Peter had designed and built) was nothing to do with
the quality of Peter's construction. Quite naturally, he blames the glue
gun which Ian had purchased as being of insufficient standard!
4/5 JANUARY 2003
Peter spent the weekend
clearing up the workshop and repairing the tube rack. He then finished
the last two aileron mass balance tabs.
7 JANUARY 2003
Finished the second aileron hinges without any hitches, then we cut out
the ply pieces for the thigh support. We decided to spend the next few
weeks on the cockpit module. We will leave the wings until the weather
improves and we can move the fuselage outside to give us more space in
the workshop.
Later
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