The part of the fuselage plug I've come to call the "missing link" is now filled in and glassed. Harald will finish it off when he adds the wing/body junction fillets to the plug.
Because of a scheduling conflict, I've had to change my plans regarding the fillet. Instead of using a CNC-cut part, Harald is going to hand-shape it using topo-map slices I've sent him. Harald will cut 1/2" slabs of foam to the outlines and stack them onto the fuselage using a pair of transverse tubes as locators. The locations of the transverse stacking axes coincide with the expected locations of the lift carrythroughs in the flight articles. I figure that might be a handy thing for later.
The reason I haven't been getting updates done more regularly is partly that there hasn't been that much to report, and partly that I've been so busy doing other things. I've been prepping my HP-18, which has been sort of a clusterfutz, and I've been doing a lot of family-type things like summer days at the lake, wandering in Yosemite, and a bit more outdoor rock climbing. I've also arranged to join the Nevada Soaring Association, and I'll be flying their gliders a little this summer. They've got a couple of two-seaters, and I figure to deliver on some longstanding offers of rides.
Also, just a heads-up, I've agreed to be a speaker at the 2005 SSA convention in Ontario, California. I don't know what I'll be talking about, or who I'm talking to, though. I'll figure out the first when I learn the second.
Here are the pictures:
Forwardish view. The white area is the first article forward fuselage we made in the short molds. The yellowish area is the "missing link," and the pinkish area is the aft fuselage and fin plug that I made in a friends garage. Note the conspicuous absence of a wing/body junction fillet. That is changing even as I write this.
Aftish view.
page updated 30 June 2004 all text and graphics copyright (c) 2004 HP Aircraft, LLC