Good news is that the top cowl mold is done - a minor trim job on the rear of it and cleaning off a bit of the parting panel is needed but I will do these later.
I have a new found respect for Matthias and Thomas who built a whole plane from scratch - it really is a lot of work once you start making plugs and molds.
The wooden supports have made the mold very rigid. They were just glued and reinforced in place using resin and chopped strand mat. This is one of the benefits of Polyester resin - that you can add things afterwards to the layout without having to do any prep work of the surface - just brush on fresh resin and it eats into the previous layer and bonds. Unlike epoxy resin which needs a clean and abraded surface to bond to.
Next up will be making the long range fuel tank.
See below for a sketch of the design for it. I will make most of it while I have the fuselage bottom panel off as I need access from the hole through the rear of the baggage area to do this layup. Afterwards I can make the internal baffle and fix the rear and top panels to it. This can come much later when the plane is finished but I need to do the back, bottom and sides now.
More about that next week.
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| Top Mold all done with wooden supports in place. |
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| Mold won't win any beauty contests but it is strong and rigid. |
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| Long range tank design and location. |
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