A few more photos of what I've been up to recently...

The Tail Skid:



The profile of the tail skid is first drawn out on a piece of scrap plywood. The narrow end (where it connects to the tail boom) is 20mm wide and 12mm deep. The skid end is 40mm wide and about 5mm deep. The mold is cut at 25° and re-glued in two places to give the right Z-shape, and the amount of 'bendy-springiness' is just about perfect!



The tail skid is made from a constant volume of carbon and kevlar fibers that splay out along its length to produce an ever increaingly springy spring towards the end.

I used carbon on the under side of the skid as a sacraficial material. If I used Kevlar here then it would become 'furry' as the fibers become worn.








The edges of the tail skid form a dove-tail profile to assist in binding it to the tail boom.



As you can see - I used both Kevlar and Carbon (~50:50) in the tail skid. The tail skid is bonded to the usderside of the tail boom and the tail dove-tail profile is extended with filler so that there will be absolutely no voids between the kevlar rovings that will hold it in place and the tail boom.









The Kevlar rovings that bind the tail skid to the tail boom are later covered in a thin layer of filler both to protect them and to provide an absolutely smooth finish.

www.ihpa.ie/carbon-dragon/media/kunena/a.../20160510_151405.jpg

Those are temporary fasteners?

Yes - those are bog-ordinary 6mm gutter bolts - and they are very temporary while I'm test assembling the various parts and working with wet epoxy and filler. I have the correct, certified aircraft grade AN-bolts with lock-nuts for the final fit out.

Phil.

A quick update on recent progress...


I have one last section of (outer wing) leading edge curing under vacuum tonight. I'll pull it from its mold and bond it to the wing on Sunday, all going well.

I like the ladder for a table

It sure looks nice! Your workmanship is beautiful