Page 6 - October 2018

Wing Structure:
By the end of May, the whole lower wing skin was
bonded in place. Then we temporarily placed the
four fuel tanks in their appropriate locations,
supported on a simple rope harness. The wing was
lifted high enough to allow parts of the wing jig
underneath it to be taken apart and disposed of.
Certain sections of the jigs were retained, and
wheels attached to the jigs for wing support during
additional work to be completed on the various
fittings later in the year.
We are still on target for the wings to be completed
to inspection level and re-attached to the fuselage by
the end of 2018, early 2019. The inspection will take Cutting the main undercarriage openings
place at a much later time after all the wing’s internal
fittings are in place. Only then will the upper wing
skins be bonded in place.
The wing was temporarily positioned back on the
fuselage for two reasons; so that the lower wing
skins could be trimmed to the required spacing from
the fuselage (the lower wing skin will have at
minimum a ¼” gap to the fuselage sides to allow for
flexing of the wing structure during turbulent flight
conditions), and secondly to verify the carbon fiber
engine mount anchor positions (these will be just
below the wing spar connections to the fuselage)
which will be extending forward from the engine
positions through two of the bulkheads in the
fuselage. The actual steel engine mounts will be
inserted and bolted in position at a later date.
The elevon (combination elevator and aileron)
positions were cut out at the rear of the wing and the
edges fibre-glassed for strength. Final trimming will
take place during the elevon fitting most likely in late
2019.

The wing was positioned in its ground attitude and
water was poured into the various sections of the Drilling the drain holes in the wing ribs
wing structure to determine the optimum position for Fuselage:
water drainage holes to be drilled to accommodate The fuselage underside will be receiving the
the condensation drainage requirements within the finishing surface application of epoxy
wing.
compounds during this coming quarter before
Just before the end of the quarter, the openings for the underside access hatch is fitted in place.
the main undercarriage were cut in the wing. The This cannot be completed until the fuselage
‘contoured’ parts that were removed and will be surface just ahead of the hatch openings have
retained for use after the undercarriage assemblies been re-contoured to provide a smooth
are installed. They will be used as molds to shape transition to the hatch position. While this is
the undercarriage doors. being completed, we will continue to sand the
fuselage underside to remove unwanted filler

and to prepare the surface for final finishing.