8 November 2010

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The recent run of wet weather may have upset plans to fly at Raywood but did enable us to make great start to our Hornet project. Gordon did a great job of adapting an existing work bench into a wing assemble bench, this allowed work to begin on the LH wing. We began by laying out the required parts, front spar, rear spar and the ribs. The pre drilled holes made lining up the ribs easy. The series of photos show what were able to achieve in a short time. 37 hours to date with Gordon Pope, Peter Buskens and Jack Hart working on the wing this week. All de-burring by Jim Henkel...
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12 November 2010

By last Friday we had the wing all de-assembled again and primer applied to the mating surfaces as required. The wing was then re-assembled and riveted together. On Monday Peter Buskens and Gordon continued with the fitment of the wing stringers. They also managed to make a tooling jig to hold the spar straight during this process. By taking some measurements and running some string lines we were able to confirm that we are heading in the right direction. The wing skeleton is now basically complete. Now we begin the fitment of the lower skin.
I was able to make a start on skinning the fuselage by fitting the lower aft radius skin and drilling it off.
Working the wing this past week was Gordon, Peter and myself spending a few hours around my shift roster. All de-burring completed by Jim Henkel along with advancing to Cleco Installation Assistant! (CIA)ed.
Man hours to date:
47hrs
Sundry expenses:
$482

Regards Jack Hart
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24 November 2010

Work has continued to progress since the last blog entry with the lower skin now completely drilled off and de-burred. The remaining holes on the lower aft fuselage LH radius skin were drilled off also. Rob Benton and I then commenced work on the lower aft fuselage RH radius skin. We were able to get it laid out and drilled off in position. Most holes have been drilled just a few more to go. Gordon commenced the build of the LH aileron in order to aid the construction of the wing. We were unsure of how the aileron was going to fit so by building it up it helped us see things a bit more clearly. The LH wing trailing edge support structure is now riveted in place so we then commenced the lay out and marking out of the upper skin. To do this Gordon again made a simple tooling jig to clamp the spar and wing in place so there was no movement. Measurements were checked as well as running a string line aided us here. We could not proceed until Jim Henkel gave the ok before drilling off the upper skin! With the upper skin completely drilled off and de-burred, we began laying out the trailing skins. After working out which skin went where and in which order, we were able to carry out an initial fitment of the inboard trailing edge skin. Here we also ran another string line along the trailing edge where we wanted it to be. This will enable all 3 trailing skin panels to be perfectly in line. When we finished tonight we were able to position and drill off all three trailing skins with a few holes. Next step now is to completely drill off the trailing panels. Good progress has been made with tail section with the rudder and vertical fin almost completed. Mike has put the building of his Monerai glider on hold while he works on the Hornet build project with us. We are very happy and lucky to have his experience to call upon. Today we had our first visit from our SAAA Technical Counsellor, Brian Ham. Brian has kindly agreed to guide us on our journey and already provided some helpful information. I intend to organise regular visits with Brian during the build process. He left with a smile on his face today so I guess he was happy with what progress we had made. Joining Brian today was SAAA Melbourne Chapter President, Dave Robbins. Dave is also interested in our project and is a former member of the Beaufort Gliding Club. Last year he commented that he had a flight with Edwin in the DG500M which he enjoyed very much. Working on the Hornet since the last blog has been: Peter Buskens, Gordon Pope, Rob Benton, Alex Kreti, Jim Henkel and myself.
Man hours to date:
99hrs
Sundry expenses:
$482
All for now,
Regards Jack Hart
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Acknowledgements

Below are a list of names of people who have assisted us during the Hornet build project by with assistance during transport, providing tooling or their time:
  • Lou Carlini
  • Roger Druce
  • Dave Robbins
  • Gordon Pope
  • Alex Kreti
  • Rob Benton
  • Chris Trewern
  • Peter Champness
  • Malcolm Crampton
  • Steve Jinks
  • Jim Henkel
Build Team:
  • Gordon Pope
  • Peter Buskens
  • Jack Hart

Maintained and sponsored by Tasman Instruments.

Tasman Instruments Tasman Instruments Tasman Scientific Tasman Scientific