This week I continued work on the fiberglass wingtips. I needed to first to trim the wingtip to fit perfectly in the wing. I marked areas to trim with red sharpie, then used the dremel to cut on the line. I had to be careful only to cut where I intended.
At the top left, the flange of the wingtip is ramming against the rear spar of the wing, thus it must be removed
Down at the bottom the edge the fiberglass wingtip is touching the wing rib preventing a perfect fit.
Then as before, I used the file to smooth the edges, removing all the jagged fiberglass left over from my cut with the dremel. As I slowly fine tuned the fit, it became cyclical. Check, Mark, Cut, File, Check, Mark, Cut, File.
Finally I was done, the wingtip fit into the wing. On the next thing!
remember those low spots I referred to earlier? Well now was the time to fix em'. I aligned the wingtip just how I wanted it, then taped it in position. Once it was taped, I selected a few holes to drill and use as alignment guides. I drilled and clecoed all the marked holes through the pilot hole in the wingskin.
Dad taught me how to mix up a special blend of epoxy resin that had tiny bits of cotton in it to strengthen the cured product. The flocked cotton, as it is called, provides a massive increase to strength.
Next I cut small pieces of aluminum to reinforce the locations of the holes. I drilled holes in them and glued them on with two part epoxy, holding them in place with a silver cleco.
Dad taught me how to mix up a special blend of epoxy resin that had tiny bits of cotton in it to strengthen the cured product. The flocked cotton, as it is called, provides a massive increase to strength.
With the Epoxy mixed, the clock was ticking, I had the work site prepped by taping it with packing tape before hand, but forgot to apply petroleum jelly (nonstick agent) to the aluminum wing skins. The jelly layer needed to be consistent as it was the first line of defense against the epoxy sticking to the metal.
I next applied the flocked cotton laden epoxy directly to the flange of the wingtip (the part that fits against the metal skin) I evenly applied a thick layer of resin, It would be hard to add more, but I could always sand off!
The plan was simple, press the wingtip into position without smearing off the epoxy. The execution was the tricky part, I had to be fast enough with the clecos as to prevent the wingtip sliding, and smearing the epoxy. Lucky for me I had 2 extra hands in the form of my dad, He held the wingtip while I inserted the clecos bottom first then I walked them in from the ends to the middle. When the wingtip was secured, I had nothing else to do but grab a few pictures, and head off to bed to wait for it to be cured in the morning.
I set my alarm early so I could get some work in before it was time to start school. At 0635 ish I stumbled downstairs, sleepy but with a rapidly clearing mind. I was dressed in yesterday's clothes in preparation for sanding the fiberglass.
I pulled off the wingtip and used lacquer thinner on a paper towel to remove any last traces of vaseline from the epoxy and wingtip. I removed the packing tape and hit the metal again with a rag of lacquer thinner.
Now the edges of the new epoxy layer were UG-LY something had to be done about those.
I used the sanding drum on the dremel to rapidly remove the bulk of the material. Making sure to keep the edge square to the original, I sanded away.
I repeated the process on the outside edge (the shiny white one) one it was basically correctly shaped, I ran a sanding block along it in order to smooth most imperfections.
One last step remains, filling the pits in the flocked cotton epoxy with a mix commonly called "Micro". Micro contains small glass beads as filler, this makes it far easier to sand then pure epoxy resin.
Thank you to everyone! I am proud to announce that today (9-14-17) marks the beginning of my coaching job. I coached my first gymnastics class all by myself! Being a coach is great, and because I am at the gym so much anyways, it is a GREAT way to earn money for buying my engine. Speaking of my engine, I am nearly 1/3 of the way to my $5k goal. Thank you extra to those on this list who have either donated money to me, or enabled me to earn money for my project!
Mr John
Paul Shadwick
Stan Whitfield
Ron Sipple
Ralph and Joyce Shultz
Paul and Beth Duff
Mario Gonzalez
Mario Gonzalez
Paul Hockin
Kevin White
Kevin White
Nicholette Shultz
Gordon Fern
Anon Anon
Jeannette Shultz
Mike David
Jonathan and Julia Wolfe
Jon Palmstrom
Laurie Burns
Donna Mickel
Dana Baker
Mrs Nadine
Eric Johnson
Tammy Reap Hayes
Jeff Shultz
Brandon Lenart
WP Marsh
Michael Couillard
Mr Anonymous
Joe And Judy Green
Mrs Brenda
Mrs Cathy
Paul and Vickie Laberge
Judy and Roger Kemmerle
Fico Gonzelaz
The purpose of this blog is to document and share my experience of building and later flying an airplane. In the first portion, I will thank all the wonderful people who donated to me. Then in the second section I will post a building update, hopefully every 3-4 days ,explaining what I have done in detail and with pictures. Finally in the third and last section, I will post my flying adventures, and any maintenance I do. Thank you or your support and interest, I am pumped to be executing this project