HP-24 Project

Here's the carbon fiber I'm going to make the first-article wing skins out of. It's two rolls, one 36" wide, the other 24" wide. This is a Hexcel product that popped up on the aerospace composites salvage market.

Here's what makes this stuff special. Look closely and you see that it's woven on the +/-45 bias. So I don't need a bunch of diagonal swaths across the wing mold to get the torsional stiffness I need.

Here's the inboard spider, freshly finish-welded. The outboard end is in the foreground. The shorter spanwise tube supports the aft edge of the airbrake box bonding flange where it will meet the lower skin.

This is the jig for welding up forks that get riveted into some of the control system push-pull tubes. The colinear-pivot system makes it easier to access all sides of the part during welding. That makes it easier for the welder, less expensive for the buyer. The shiny chunk of steel on the left side is the piston rod of a shock absorber that I fished out of the green dumpster.

Here's the first-article instrument panel and instrument pod in Brad's fuselage. The carbon fiber on the panel sure looks nice.

Homebuilt aviation is not for folks who don't try things at home.

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