Week 18 - Port wing

Hours to date: 195.0

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now with the Port wing.

Leading edge is now reinforced.

Root rib is glassed in and I did a bit of filling in with Micro balloons in the honeycomb in this rib plus on the flap and aileron counterweights. Also at the end of the Aileron there is a gap that needs to be filled with micro. The micro tends to be like working with slightly melted chocolate so after a while it runs into a nice smooth finish. I work it into any cavities with a wooden stirring stick - usually I cut one in half to have a finer edge to work with.

I also made up a couple of plywood washers that will go in the holes in the wings for the aileron bell cranks. I used a hole saw of 30mm diameter and that makes a 26mm diameter circle of plywood when cut out. The photo shows the plywood washer with plastic (nylon?) washer on top (black) and then the ali plate that will be screwed into the bottom of the wing - this will hold the aileron bell cranks in place and allows for future removal should that be needed.

The fuel drain is now finished except for putting in the metal fittings. Managed to get it pretty flush in the end. Also the fuel cap is looking quite decent now too - with just the cavity to fill in around the edge with filler to make that flush.

Next up I will be doing all these jobs to the Starboard wing so most likely won't be posting again for a while. 

Merry Christmas everyone and see you again in the new year.

Leading edge reinforced with 40mm glass and peel ply

Root rib - Micro in honeycomb and glass on edges

Micro in the gap at the end of the ailerons

Plywood washer for bell cranks

Fuel drain pretty much done - bar the fittings

Fuel cap - looking fairly decent - just needs filler now.

Electric Twister

A very interesting article from the USA about converting the Twister to electric flight.


What's different is the authors 'Range extender' device which overcomes most of the shortcomings of electric flight. 


This makes the Twister into a hybrid which I believe is the way forward until there is a leap in battery technology.


It sure would be nice and quiet flying a Twister this way, the only real noise would be from the prop.


http://blog.cafefoundation.org/?p=2520

Merry Christmas

Santa's upgrade from the sleigh.

Week 17 - More wing work

Hours to date 183.25


Cracking on with the Port wing now.


I had my inspector (Rex) round this week and he seemed pleased with my work so far.


To secure the bearings in the aileron bell cranks you need to use a centre punch which pushes out a little metal over the edge of the bearings. The distance from the edge is 1mm. I used a fine point punch first by hand to make a small dent in the right place. Then I switched to the medium size punch.


The next pic shows me just playing around with how the crank works - it will of course be on the inside of the wing when in place. I was just doing this to determine which crank goes in which wing.


Other work done this week: Fuel drain has been glassed over, flap counterweight arms are bonded in place and I have prepared the leading edge of the port wing for reinforcing - removed the peel ply, sanded down and flocked in any voids.


Finally there is a carbon washer that needs to be bonded onto the rear wing pin. The pin was put in place at the factory with their foam glue - which looks like it will be easy to remove but it is very strong and even the Dremel had a job to remove it. Got there in the end.


Just got to reinforce the root rib with glass, ditto the leading edge, then I will be close to finishing the Port wing. A few other little bits to do then I will switch back to the Starboard wing.

Centre punch around bearing to secure it.

Trying out the bell crank for function

Fuel drain glassed over

Flap counterweights bonded in

Leading edge prepped for reinforcing tape

Foam needs to be removed for CF washer on rear wing pin

Washer bonded in with Cotton Flock

Other hole cut out for the bell crank now too

Week 16 - Fuel drain

Hours to date 172.25


Moving right along to the bottom of the wing now and installing the fuel tank drain.


Pretty much the same deal as the fuel filler recess. Manual doesn't tell you anything - except where to drill. Hole size is 40mm for the outside and then I went quite a bit smaller inside - 25mm and then used the Dremel to elongate the hole where needed for the two drain holes. (see pic).


This is an easier job than the filler cap because of size and also access is a lot better - you can see underneath easily and work through the hole in the root end of the fuel tank. With the filler cap a little inspection mirror is needed.


After this job I installed the bearings in the Aileron bell cranks and drilled (Dremeled) the hole for one of the bell cranks. This hole will be covered in the end by a metal plate, but is necessary for installing the crank as both bearings that it will sit in are already installed inside the wing.


I may keep going with this one wing until it is done and then switch back to the other wing - we'll see.

Inner hole made a special shape to fit the drain holes

Drain plug installed - still have to glass in.

View from inside the tank

Hole for Aileron bell crank install.

Both bell cranks with bearings installed.

Drunk pilot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vH2yKfDq5Q&feature=share

Great skills and a great show.