The last few days have been a bit of a blur. I am shaking off the last remnants of a frustrating head cold that lingered for way too long. This week was also the first week of an early class at SJCC before my spring semester classes begin on the 31st. With the cold and classes I haven’t gotten much of anything done at the day job and getting into the workshop was near impossible.
As a consolation, I managed to get in a bunch of pseudo-shop time in by working on the airfoil templates. All totaled up I put in 11 hours marking up the templates on contractor’s paper and cutting out the finished templates. It is surprising how much time can be spent on laying out even the smallest airfoil. Over 30 measurements are used to lay out the basic shape, and you still have to round everything out for a smooth form. Science and art in one operation.
The picture above shows all seven of the airfoils laid out on the kitchen floor. On top is the wing with its 58″ chord. Below the wing is the stabilator, and below the stabilator are the five airfoils that are stacked to form the rudder. There will be 30 copies of the wing rib, 8 of the stabilator and only on each of the rudder ribs. There are a total of five variations of wing rib and two variations for the stabilator, but they are all based of the basic forms. I will post more about the jig and duplication process when I get back to the airfoils. For now, since I am feeling much better, I move back to the bulkhead construction portion of the project.
This last week’s diversion to the airfoils is a good example of building flexibility into your project schedule so you are able to take advantage of available time when life strikes.
Until next time, blue skies and tail winds.
~FlyBoyJon