November 14, 2006

I was actually at the hangar for four hours today, but one and a half was spent making some aluminium strips to inlay into our bathroom floor which we’ve just had done in a nice Brazilian hardwood. We’re putting the aluminium trim into the wood about a foot from the edge of the room, all the way around. It should look pretty cool.

Once that was out of the way, I continued with the empennage tips. They’re riveted on now, so all they need is a little sanding for them to be flight ready. I’ll spend some time making them all pretty when it’s warmer outside (ie, next spring!)

Here’s the HS tip. This one has a lot of filler on it already from years ago!

Next task was the fairing. I’m beginning to dislike this piece more and more each time I do something to it. Here’s what the fibreglass strips looked like after the peel ply was removed. That stuff is fantastic! I swear by it now! The only issue I have with mine is it’s on a roll like toilet paper, and the edges fray chronically. I should take a picture of all the strands I’ve put in the bin just lately. They’re awful!

In an attempt to make this thing fit to some degree, I had to make some serious cuts. I removed the whole front hook areas, and also slitted the upper flanges so they would be free to flex against the VS. I roughed it up with some 40 grit and applied some epoxy.

Then I put it on the plane and taped it, clamped it, and weighted it down. Now in hindsight, I probably should have used a flox mixture here, as it would be a better structural filler material than pure epoxy resin. We’ll see how this goes, and if it turns out to be a load of rubbish, I may cut the flanges off altogether and make my own. It can’t be that hard right? My only constraint right now is time. I could just duct tape it for the first flight, we’ll see.