You know that nagging problem … you’ve done something … you have 100’s of little but important jobs to finish and you keep looking back at that bit that wasn’t quite right … yes I am sure it will be fine …. carry on with other bits … then you look at it again … sure it will tighten up and straighten out …. get some other bits ready to do .. then you go back and look it critically !

You just know it will nag and nag and nag ….. better to just maker the decision up front and scrap it !

Its only a piece of wire and a thimble BUT threading it through the top cabin fitting I slightly crimped the cable and now it has a small kink in it … I will stare at it in front of me EVERY time I fly …. nope … scrap it … make another ….

Ironically it takes far longer agonising over the ‘shall I, shan’t I’ than the few minutes it takes to actually MAKE ANOTHER !!

Looks nice straight 🙂

(Incidentally – Brolly is an idea pinched from MotoGp – to keep the dust out of the cockpit as much as I can !)

When the wings fold back they require support at the root in the form of something called a Jury strut. Its made up of some dowels with a hinge point in the middle and then have pegs in each end that locate into the mounting brackets above the lower and below the upper wing.

My very good friend Mike Fleming has kindly managed the sub project of trailer spec and build.

Having bought the 4×2 steel bar he has laid it all out and now welded the framework in place. Just need to finalise against the ‘plane and confirm wheel track to weld in the wheel mounts. Then the running boards that support the folded wings.

Mike has already test run the trailer on our very small bumpy Jersey roads !

It was another post midnight last night as the 4 wing strut posts were drilled, assembled and aligned. The build diagrams suggest building them back to back in matched pairs .. a very sensible idea if you would like Port and Starboard wings to have equal spacing and support !

Using the final joining bolt each pair is aligned and the holes drilled out and nickel riveted. Drilled through the brackets and then de-burred, then drilled through the posts once aligned. !00’s of holes and then managed to run 7 rivets short ! arggggghhh

Trying to get both lower wings ‘fully loaded’ and completed so it doesn’t skew any of the final setup and balance and alignment of the wings. Added the second (Port) wingtip this weekend …. was a little tighter fit than the previous .. but have left them both ‘oush fitted’ for now before I finally commit to fibre glassing in place.

Started to cut templates to seat the propeller in the spinner.

You don’t get more than one chance at cutting this nice spinner ! so will take a few 100 measures first !

With the lower wings nearing final setup (leading edge and wing tips going on and aileron bellcranks and pushrods in place) I have started to prepare the Interplane struts

The initial brackets have been pre-drilled which is extremely useful … these now require shaping and trimming down.

Initial shaping and now ready for final finishing

Before I can start to trestle up the lower wing for more test fits and final fit/rigging I need to ensure that all major parts are completed so it has an all up representative weight of the finished object (minus covering).

That means completing the leading edge fitting using the scarfed panels, 3 per leading edge. The soaking in the bath really helped but I discovered the original jig I created didn’t give it enough bend. Last weekend I had a nightmare evening trying to get the first leading edge panel to wrap around the wing. Eventually, as Paul usually says, if it doesn’t look right it probably isn’t !! I gave up, removed all the glue and left it all alone.

Took the 2 panels I have pre shaped back and re-wet and made an adjustment to the jig. Much better now and the first one offered up to leading edge wrapped around nicely with very little effort to get it to seat.

Last night glued the first one in place

and this morning fixed the second. Only doing one at a time so that I make sure it all clamps down well and true full width with the battons.

Final inboard section added