As usual, I'm a bit behind in blogging. It's been a summer of painting, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling.
The Horizontal Stabilizer has had several coats of filler on it and sanded many times. When the airport is so far away, it's difficult to make the 25 min drive each way for a 10 minute session of sanding and adding a coat. A word of advice for other builders would be to keep it at home as long as possible. I'm considering moving it back home once the wings are completed and can be removed so the plane fits easily in the 2 car garage.
The other things we have been working on are the controls and the seat. I've found that there is a lot of making a part 2, 3 or even 4 times. This summer we created our second seat with some help from Ken Jones. He had some left over fiberglass that was terrific for the seat. It was very heavy and one layer on each side can support my weight as I enter and exit the plane. We will need to load test it to 3G's (2 people at 200 lbs each, *3 = 1200 lbs of static load!) I think it may need one more layer, but it's going to work out.
After the seat was ready, it was time to work on the first control surface. The Rudder. The Rudder pedals have been completed for a while and were installed. They now have cables attached and move the rudders. I have tested them by putting all the force my legs can push on each pedal and nothing has failed. I would like my welds to look more professional, but I'm confident they will work.
I have been concentrating on learning things that will make me more efficient in ordering materials and in planning. I have been learning DeltaCad after seeing the many drawings my dad has made for the airplane. I did not understand how he made some of the drawings and while I trusted my dad, I wanted to understand. As much as I appreciate his help, I want to know I could do it if he wasn't there.
With that in mind, I loaded DeltaCad's free 30 day trial and ran through the tutorials. I have since drawn my kitchen floor, my hanger, and 1/5th scale wing ribs from the AS5048 Airfoil Coordinates. If you're interest in learning a very easy to use 2D cad program, check out http://www.deltacad.com . There is a 30 day free trial, after which it costs $40. The tutorial will walk you through everything you need to know.
We Went to "SloshKosh" 2010 and I was personally very disappointed. It really should have been canceled. The only good things I got out of it was spending some time with my dad, and getting started learning to Gas weld with Oxy-Acetylene. I have always heard how difficult it is but I was surprised that I did not find it that difficult. I may be able to make my own custom length engine mount after all.
