Can yu say........***BOOMDEGASER ALERT!!!! 4/15/05***

Exchanged 1"x6"x8' oak boards for 1"x6"x10' oak boards and affixed one to the first of the main wing frames...will cut to fit tomorrow, and finish the rest of the trailing spars/ribs by monday.

 

All the wing cores are done, and the bi-sectional hinges for the split elevon drag-rudders are temporarily in place. Designing out the actual drag rudders is proving to be quite a MONSTER!!!!

 

Yesterday, while waitin' for Dad to arrive for XMAS dinner, I went outside and began repairing the extensive skin damage the last CAT4 hurricance winds did to the ship's fuselage when it blew both the hull and the cherry-picker over! Fortunately, I couldn't find any structural damage, and the skin laminated back together easier than I thought....but it sure looked bad at first!

 

BFett88, here's the thread you're looking for.

 

Sorry... I got distracted w/ work and forgot to bump it

 

I spent the day with my experimental aircraft buddy designing out what I hope will be the wing support boxes to be installed in the fuselage. Each box will be a custom 4"x6"x4.25"x.25" steel, tapered, and beveled box with welded flanges, buttresses and angles to give the spars the support they need to remain fixed to the hull without movement. I've started honing one of the spar roots to match the steel fortification side plates from which the box measurements will be taken for a very snug fit. Then the specs will be sent to as yet an undetermined metalsmith for construction. My hope is to have these four boxes made to order for around $200 each, but the work will have to be quite exacting as the welds and the squareness of the pieces are crucial. Hopefully, Terry(or others in the RMFF?)will know someone who will take on the job, but I may have to do the bulk of the steel work myself, and just have someone do the final welding....I hope not.

 

After all these tracking posts, I've never bothered to log in all the work that's still left to do, so in light of tryin' to over-post GERMANY, I think I'll spread the wealth of my posts, and start listing the jobs on the bird still to be done.

 

The previously mentioned support boxes for the wings are the next priority.

 

And, of course, in order for those to work right, the wing spars must be honed to fit, which includes the mating of the peripheral steel plates to said spars to give rigidity to the spar root which is seated in the individual spar support boxes.

 

Once the wing frames/spars are test-seated in the fuselage they must be removed to finish out the major wing components including the elevons, drag rudders, & electronic flight control motors. At this point, the brake master cylinders/pedals are installed, as is the front gear steering armature.

 

Then the internal wing components such as the fuel tanks must be completed, which has it's own nightmarish array of wiring, vent tubes, fill ports, ect, ect, ect.

 

Once the wing cores/components are completed, the wing skins are formed and placed upon the frames; this entailing much sanding to give a uniform surface to attach said composite sandwich skins to.

 

Then, the outboard sections of each of the two lower wingtips must have their individual outrigger landing gears constructed and mounted within the cavities of the lower gunpods.

 

Once those outriggers are done, the wings must be temporarily attached to the aircraft, and sandbags must be strategically located to simulate a full load on the airframe/landing gear to correctly identifiy how much leaf-spring to apply to the main gear to accomodate the proper ride-height for take-offs.

 

Once the gear has it's leaf-springs in place, the motorized locking-pin unit must be installed.

 

To ensure the ship doesn't sit on it's tail when installing the engine/drive components(the CG will be too far aft without a pilot onboard....FLOL!), the retractable stanchion catch-bridge must be installed aft of the main gear(think of a large motorcycle's kick-stand...FLOL!)

 

With the ship sitting firmly on it's wheels/stanchion support, the engine mount is installed on the aft bulkhead.

 

The rotary engine, after modifications for power, is installed on the engine mount with all it's associated hardware including turbo, intercoolers, heat exchangers, blah, blah, blah......very tedious!

 

Then, all the engine controls, gauges & associated hardware is mounted in the cockpit.

 

Then the PSRU(prop speed reduction unit)is mounted onto the aft housing of the rotary engine and it's associated coolers and hardware are installed.

 

wow...what more can I say? You are amazing Tim.

 

The 78" 3-bladed prop is then mounted to the aft flange of the PSRU, and it's governor is mounted aft of that entire assembly(of course, more gauges and controls are ran forward to the cockpit for this as well.)

 

Oh, I'm just gettin' warmed up, C!

 

After fueling the tanks, priming the engine and checking the engine control unit for power, the engine is fired up, and the initial testing to map out the turbo/powerband is begun. At this stage, extreme detail must be payed to tracking the oil pressure, the fuel injector loads and the temps!!!

 

Once the engine can sustain a 2,500RPM idle, then the ECI mapping begins in earnest until 400HP@7,500RPM is achieved(this represents take-off power.)