Beaufort Gliding Club Hornet GT. (Glider Tug)

02 May 2011

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Our engine is now completed and ready for shipping. I have instructed our shipping agent here in Melbourne to make the necessary arrangements.
So another milestone is achieved and the engine should be here soon. Hopefully I will be able to update you all when that is on the next blog update.
Below are some great pictures of our engine.

Regards Jack

12 May 2011

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The school holidays are over finally (I didn't think I'd make it thru!) which meant more time for me to push on with the build.
We made more progress including finalising the rudder pedal installation, fabricated attachment fittings for the brake master cylinders.
All the ailerons and flaps are now completed including the drive attach fittings.
The ailerons and flaps will be installed on the wings after the wings have been fitted to the airframe.
We revisited the Tost CRG Reel installation and found that we had misunderstood the purpose of the fibreglass shroud.
Further research found that it needed to be installed underneath and face aft to act as a cable guide for the reel.
This was altered and the shroud installed just clear of the reel. The reel motor was tested with 12V and works just fine.
With Tost CRG reel installation finalised, the baggage compartment floor support structure was also completed.
We have added some structure around the Tost CRG Reel to enable a removable panel to be fitted around the reel.
Next we will shape and fit the baggage compartment floor.
The header fuel tank required for the engine was positioned and drilled off.
Ole had one specially made for us to fit neatly underneath the cockpit floor.
This we will shim so that the drain point in the header tank will be the lowest point.
The rudder cable that was incorrectly routed because of the floor support structure has been rectified.
The RH cockpit side panel was positioned and drilled off. We then made a start on the LH cockpit side panel.
The engine is on its way and should be here by the end of June.
A disappointing development on the shipping side from the agent in the US trying to charge another $400 USD due to issues collecting the engine.
This is all crap and there were no issues collecting the engine. This despite a firm quote and an email from them the day before saying everything is ok.
The agent here in Aus has been great and is disappointed also but says the recent situation in the US has meant that some agents will try it on.
We are currently in talks to sort it out. They have our engine so we need to be careful how we proceed.

All for now,
Regards Jack

Man hours to date:

470hrs

23 May 2011

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It has been a big 2 weeks and we have achieved quite a bit of progress. We started by moving the fuselage from the build site in Melton to the Club's maintenance workshop at Bacchus Marsh airfield.
This was so we could paint the primer in a better location. First we needed to prepare the surfaces for Alodine.
After cleaning the Alodine was applied which gave a slight gold colour to the aluminium. A couple of days later we returned and Chris Trewern painted the primer.
Today we had a visit from the Melbourne Chapter of the SAAA. They got to look over our progress and enjoyed a BBQ lunch with other members of the Beaufort Gliding Club.
A few went for a flight in a glider while some others had a look thru the Gliding Museum. A great day was had by everyone.
The President of the GFA, Phil McCann also paid us a visit and was very impressed with what he saw.

All for now,
Regards Jack

Man hours to date:

497hrs