Tailplane Control Horn

2 hours

Sounds fun, this is large 'open' U shaped piece of metal that will acts as a control attachment peice for the tailplane. quite simple to make and the largest single sheet peice made to date. I finished this off including the final sanding with 400 grit wet'n'dry finish ready for a coat of zinc chromate primer. Before I prime it I will need to add two 30 degree bends to the control arms. Once this is done I can paint it and then coat it in a two part enamel.

Back at it....

2 hours

I have not been able to work on the project for a little while as I put my back out feeding the fish!!! all is well now, this evening I finished of the flap torque tube assemblies and the are now ready for welding. I also finshed off a couple of support brackets for the flap handle. I should be in a position to have the flap handle components completed in about 2-3 hours. I am finding the steady grinding and measuring quite relaxing, if noisy, to do.

Trying to find a cheaper source of the okoume plywood, I had a quote from France that was the same cost as a UK supplier which supprised me. There is a company in Holland who sell the plywood cheap but they don't appear to have a website so I am going to have to contact them the old fashioned way ; )

thats it for today check back

Flap handle here we come

2 hours

Getting close to completing one of the major metal work components. the flap handle. This is an interesting part much like a car handbrake in design. Most of the major parts cut and shaped. I need to get a couple of parts machined and then it can be put in the 'to be welded' box. The next complex piece to be completed will be the Flap torque tubes, just some final shaping to be doem and again a couple of 'pins' to be machined. Once I find someone to do the machining. Still no pictures, one day I will have the camera in the workshop I promise.

Cutting Tube

45 mins


Well I got down to cutting some 4130 steel tubes. Mostly for the Mass Balance arms and the flap torque tubes. Metal cutting blade on the bandsaw struggled so out came the trusty angle grinder and the job was done really quickly. Not neat but it is effective and after some tidying up on the bench grinder all is well.

So progress continues, I have made contact with a small engineering outfit who can make the 4/5 small parts that need to be machined and should have a quote soon. Lost more to do check back soon