Ovalizing the nose fairing tube

I finally pulled Goat back out for some work. I ovalized the nose fairing tube using my vice and some perseverance. It looks pretty good mounted on the fuselage section, but I didn't take any pictures of that yet...

Hang Gliders!

I happened to be in Utah for business and ended up with a free day. A new friend, Greg, took me to the local hang-glider site in Salt Lake City. I believe this was called the South Side and is a small cousin to the North Side of the famous Point of the Mountain at the Wings over Wasatach field. Despite being the smaller of the two locations, I was rather impressed at the 200 ft cliff at roughly 45 deg steep and in the perfect bowl shape for flying. Greg got off two flights and a few other dudes were flying as well. I took wayyyyyy too many photos, but wanted to share a few highlights here.






Setting up Greg's "old rag-wing."












Putting in the lower battens.












Strapped in and ready to fly!












Taking a giant step...












Setting his feet looks rather awkward, but it's not a problem.











And just like that, Greg quite literally flies with the birds!

A few comment replies

I wanted to reply to a couple recent comments from folks...

Hi George,

I'm glad you're enjoying the close-up photos. I too was struggling with Mike's zoomed-out pics and really wanted to fill in some missing gaps. I'll work on posting some more close-ups, especially if you have any requests!

I'll see what I can do with the key-words for finding this page easier. Great suggestion.

I don't have a parts list, per-se. I have kept every order form, so I definitely have an order list if I go through the pile. Some of Mike's bolt call-outs didn't work for me, so I'd really just prefer to measure each assembly to make an as-built list.

I haven't done any welding, especially aluminum. The reliance of Sandlin's design on thru bolts was attractive for a novice metal worker, so I'm following by-the-plans. Most every rivet I've found is either non-structural or backed up by several other rivets (as on tube end inserts).

I'd love to see you start up a build-log as you get your project up and rolling! The support is worth it alone :-)


Hi Craig,

I'm just busy :-) Spending two weeks in Utah for work currently and I've been working on an RC Long EZ project for the past few weeks after working on an RC discus launch glider project with some old school buddies.


And now for everyone,

In other news, I'm about ready to go get the wing tubing! It's a couple hour drive up to Pennsylvania to pick up tubing at Dillsburg Aero-Works ... and I have to figure out how to stuff 12ft tubing into my little Civic.

I'm also ready to try my hand at covering. I have enough material to do the rudder. A local guy gave me some tips how to use the Stits Poly-Fiber method, given my weight constraint. I need some Poly-Tack and Poly-Span and MEK. I think I'll go get that wing tubing first ;-)