On Monday 19 July my father and I flew down to Tehachapi to see the HP-24 full fuselage plug. We borrowed a friend's Cherokee 180 and droned down there. It looks like I'll have full-fuselage molds to show off at the SHA Western Workshop on the Labor Day weekend. After that, it'll be time to start getting to work on the wing skin molds.
A new project trivia point: while doodling on my computer, I accidently arrived at a somewhat novel design for the horizontal stabilizer attachment. I think I can arrange it so that you drop the stabilizer into place, press it aft onto its pins, and have a spring-loaded pin lock it into place. You still have to tighten an allen screw (as in DG and Libelle practice) to properly secure it. But if you do forget, that spring-loaded pin will probably get you safely around the pattern.
Here are the latest pictures of the fuselage plug almost ready for molding:
page updated 23 July 2004 all text and graphics copyright (c) 2004 HP Aircraft, LLC