"Storm of the Century" aftermath

I wasn't kidding about the snow ... I took this picture just before dusk and the snow was still coming down at +1" per hour! It just quit (9pm) after starting up last night just after 9pm. 24 hours and roughly knee-height snow and definitely over my knee in drifts. I won't be going anywhere anytime soon...

I should have ordered another 8' section of 1/4" x .035" while I was already paying for shipping last order. I have a few of vertical tail ribs to go, but the aft four are all done (pictures tomorrow). It's nice to start cleaning up and seeing the vertical tail start to really stiffen up.

"Storm of the Century"

Why is it that snow inspires me to work on Goat? DC is in for "a historic snowfall" tonight according to the meteorologists on the news. I took the quiet day to work on the tail section now that I'm back with all my parts and tools!

First, I sampled a rubber/plastic handle for the control stick. It isn't much, but it's very pretty looking. I think it is a little detail that adds a personal touch to the otherwise very metallic and impersonal beast. I haven't glued it on, so I can twist it around and somehow slide it off now, but I've heard of some tricks with hairspray for bicycle handles that might work. If nothing else, I have some 3M Super 77 that will make the two parts neigh impossible to separate...

I also installed the 1/8" quick link from West Marine in the upper elevator arm (hard to see). I have the pulleys too, but figure I'll hold those off for a day when I only have enough stamina for a 10 minute job (or when I decide to get the 40 some odd quick links).

Then, for whatever reason the mood struck me and I made channels in the horizontal stab ribs for the carbon caps. They're not glued in yet, but I'm about ready to do it (and probably will tomorrow night). I realized I forgot my magic trick for the fiberglass wrap on the rudder ribs: 3M Super 77 to make putting down the cloth a breeze. The rudder ribs were torture trying to hold the glass in place while squishing it with a peel-ply wrapped layer being pulled taut. Now I just can pre-bond in the carbon spar then gracefully wrap the 3M'd glass around before saturating it with epoxy. Duh to me, that'll work super well.

Now I started on the fun stuff, making the vertical tail. I quickly made two gusset parts and bolted them carefully to the upper tube and allowing to align the middle tube with the proper twist. The middle tube with all the rivets in it was already done from my last post.














Then I made slowly the four sheet parts to attach the rudder post to the upper and middle vertical tail tubes. Making the rudder post assembly let me match drill the upper and middle tube holes perfectly. A little while later I made and attached the upper rudder hinge.

The lower rudder hinge is a simple trio of AN42b eye bolts. I'm not really sure why Sandlin used the eye bolt pair and axle concept here and not elsewhere, but I like how friction free it is compared to the elevator. I'm going to debate for a while if I should do the same on the elevator. It's the idea of adding another pair of holes so close and in a critical part, we'll see...





And then to cap off the day's work, I made the horizontal stab bracket to mount on the vertical stab. I did the front one too, but put a circular hole in it and forgot it was an eyebolt that needed to go into a slot ... so I'll remake that part later sometime. I have not yet modified the AN3-30 bolt with more threads and no head to match Sandlin's drawings. I need to borrow/buy a die set to make that one happen.



This is a bad picture, but I really wanted to get the point across that this plane is really coming together! Sure there is a long way to go, but it's fun to start making an assembly :-)

A trip to West Marine

I decided to go get some more parts for Goat. Unfortunately, West Marine didn't have any more quick links than just this one, nor did they have the Ronstan shackle RF1853. Bummer. That's okay I suppose though. I'll try again later at another store...

I also need a cheaper source for 1/8" steel quick-links than West Marine. I counted over 20 at first glance at the plans and at $7 apiece, this begins to hurt a little. Surely there is another source without as much markup.

The pulleys are super sweet though!

It's riveting work .......

The Simpsons was back on tonight! I broke into that Christmas order a bit early ... I split a tube to make sleeves for the upper and lower vertical stabilizer tubes. Since the long tubes have inserts with rivets, I thought that would be a fun way to spend the evening. I have to get to DC to do the rest of the alignment before making holes in the others ends ... something about alignment, heh. I also have another half-dozen brackets to make before I do that alignment step. Good thing the Thanksgiving holiday is upcoming :-)

Car-Tow

I'm starting to feel better about this whole car-launching thing. Here is a picture of an Australian powered Goat on an engine-off flight. From what I can tell, it is essentially tying a rope to the car bumper and attaching that to the tow-bridle of Goat. I read that for a short field, it is proper to have a ground pulley that turns the car to face the glider. This way, the driver can better see the aircraft on launch too. Of course, the driver does not drive directly at the aircraft. Also, I find a slight issue that the glider needs to have a very good sense of where the turn-around is located so the glider doesn't get pulled down. In the desert areas, the pulley isn't used and the vehicle simply drives along a road as far as the glider pilot wants, getting better altitude than if a pulley was used. Still, it sounds pretty cool since I don't know anyone in the DC area yet with a tow plane; suggestions are welcome!

Christmas order

If anyone is still reading, I just put in an order for the aft fuselage (tailboom?) section as an impulse. I had the order prepped sometime over the summer, just didn't have the guts to hit the "order" button. Despite having two other active RC airplane projects going on and the school semester wrapping up, I figure having the raw material makes getting back working on Goat more accessible when I finally get the time again. Yay!

In particular, I'll be receiving material for the vertical tail triangle and lower boom support such that I can join the tail feathers to the fuselage. I'll have material for the anti-twist bracing, as well as picking up several spare parts to finish off specific areas of the nose section. A bucket of rivets will let me finalize the cabanes too. I suppose I probably could have done work on the tail ribs, but aluminum work is more satisfying to me right now.

'least I got this out of the way before Christmas hits and I feel that pinch!

PS: I just found a plastic part company that has free samples ... so we'll see if I can get the end caps on sample!

Cabane happiness

It's growing slowly but surely.

The nose section now has cabanes with all the pieces attached! I added the compression struts to the back of the cabanes using some long rivets and two 1/16" washers. It took a bit of filing to fishmouth the tubes to match both angles and fit to the correct depth. Sort of glad that I'm bolting rather than welding.

A bike trainer stand does a great job of keeping the nose section standing upright while I'm working on it.

The central cabane intersection in progress. The main plate has the proper bolts and associated hardware. The forward cabane strut has the insert and is happily riveted. The aft strut is what needs work next. By the plans, it is about 1/4" shorter than I'd like to see. I have an extra piece of 3/4" x .035" tube that I'll cut long for this replacement piece. I also need to do the insert for it and then all the riveting. I'm out of rivets again.

Yeah I'm out of washers too... 200 washers last time wasn't enough!
I worked a tad on the kingpost too, despite that I can't assemble it on the aircraft inside! I haven't cut the large holes in it to pass through the cable connections.

I have not yet bought the tubes that go over these inner structural piece. I still need to get a vice so I can ovalize the outer housings. I think it will look better with the ovalized tubes dressing up the structural pieces.

So next I'm going to work on the tail ribs back down in North Carolina before coming back to the nose section. I'll then order the rivets, washers, and materials to make the vertical fin (aft fuselage, tail section, whatever you want to call it) so that the nose and tail are connected! That'll be four or five months from now though :-)