I'm a fair-weather building for sure. It was 75 and partly sunny on a Saturday, perfect for assembling Goat with the newly covered tail and seeing how everything is fitting together. First, some wide-angle pictures...
The newly covered control surfaces (except that right aileron) look awesome. Even in a light breeze, I could feel the aileron and elevator putting some slight control forces to work. Sandlin's idea of "wind jamming," referring to balancing/steering with the control surfaces in wind, makes perfect sense now. And if the wind direction is right, I can probably do this myself in the back yard with minimal risk. That will help me figure out the stick deflections needed for positive control. Coming from an RC background, my thumbs are used to moving, not my whole arm and both legs. I also remember how the stick felt very heavy in roll and very sensitive in pitch in a Blanik, but less so in a Cessna 172 (well that was a yoke). Wind jamming seems a great and safe way to get familiar with the Goat. There is a good video of this somewhere, but this is the best I could find in a pinch.
The tail is all covered, but still needs to be painted. There were no issues with assembly here with access being different ... with the wing, I tend to reach through the structure where covering will later prevent that access.
Perhaps you already understood this from the drawings, but it seemed worth sharing a closeup of how the aileron cables route at the wing root while I was taking pictures already. Several builders have replaced this arrangement with solid pushrods and torque tubes for the ailerons. For me, this cable arrangement still seems okay. The blue painters tape marks a tube I'm going to replace because of that stray hole.
I tried leaving the control surfaces, cabane, and strut on this wing panel to move it back into the garage. It's quite awkward. I normally find the balance point and hoist it over my head, using a good grip on the internal struts to balance it. But, that won't be possible with the covering on, so it makes sense to resolve how to move it differently before covering. I usually move the strut separately, and it does have quick links to support that.
The only new major lessons were that the wing control surfaces will definitely need to be held in place somehow prior to assembly and post disconnection. I had removed the tail section and had the nose section balanced on the skid forward. This large assembly caught some wind and rotated backward without me controlling it, with the ailerons streamlined (still connected to pushrods). The ailerons were the first item to hit, transferring force back into the control pushrods, which both bent. Those need replacement now. I'm thinking a really long velcro strap to hold the control surfaces folded up against the wing.
