First time assembly :-)

Thanks to Matt for coming over and helping move Goat outside for the first time ... nice to get some grass underneath the wheel!

It was a neat test on the assembly procedure too. It's a pretty quick assembly, maybe 5 minutes for what you see put together. I imagine adding the wings and associated cables would double the time, but even that isn't too bad. It'll take more time driving than it will to get through the fun assembly time.

It's a little bit rickety right now without the cable bracing. The rudder makes the tail rack a bit, even with the stretchy line. I'm looking forward to having the real low-stretch control line. The wings and cables will be nice too of course, heh.

Oh yeah, the neighbor kids of course found us. They were a bit rough on the rudder. Sonya sure is cute not reaching the pedals though!

The only casualty is two $0.18 bolts that fell in the grass, DOH.

Wheee!

Cooking with gas again!

I was never really satisfied with 25deg rudder for only 1" rudder pedal deflection, so I started the morning by making a longer rudder control arm. I lengthened the part by 1" each side and now the pedals feel much better.

I also ordered 1/8" AmSteel-Blue 12-strand rope (very-low stretch) for the rigging. At only $0.43/ft, it wasn't too hard of a choice to use the "free shipping" that West-Marine has going on this weekend. I did a LOT of research yesterday to move away from the Lightning Rope. The AmSteel-Blue looks to be the updated version of Lightning Rope. It has a similar low-stretch: less than 1% elongation at 30% of breaking strength (2500 lb). Sandlin spec'd 7/64", so since I'm deviating I thought it was prudent to go the next size up to 1/8", which costs only two-tenths of a pound per 100ft of rope and gives almost 1000lb extra breaking strength. I'll consider this well-purchased insurance and eat the nose weight.

Speaking of control rigging, I finally used some of that Berkley Point hardware to connect the lines in a similar fashion to how it's supposed to work. Previously I had been simply tying new knots every time I assembled the plane. Now, I can get used to connecting the quick links to the snap hooks and start making a mental procedure to keep from connecting them incorrectly. I haven't set these up for the right lengths yet, so don't stress. I did install four new line guides on the bottom of the main fuselage carry-through tube. Coolbeans.

Last, I installed the tail strut end brackets on ~Thursday evening. They sure make quick assembly of the horizontal stabilizer onto the vertical tail. It's super nice to have the horizontal structurally held in place rather than with the stupid string I was using.

Feels like it's all coming together. 'bout time to get material for and start on the wings and feel under-whelmed again, heh ;-)

A whole evening for two parts

Does anyone have a better way to cut square holes?

I made the upper two ends for the horizontal tail support struts tonight. They are supposed to fit over an AN-42B eye bolt on either side. Sandlin has the builder to cut a row of holes and file down in-between to make a slot. I have a set of pin files that I've practically worn smooth now... whew, a few hours ticked away, but I'm done with the two strut ends.