June 19, 2009
After duty today, the lighting was perfect for a photo of the nearly completed bird. One of the things I've been noticing is how heavy this plane is becoming, not to mention bulky and awekward.
After realizing that it REALLY does need a working propeller, to make them. I was planning on just affixing painted soap-boxes on for the time being, but being this close, better finish it strong and correct.
Using screws, I screwed the two halves together and sanded away. This went well.
The gear that go in between-not so well.
MAKE SURE you don't glue it all together before you stick it on the axle (mistake #1)
MAKE SURE you use epoxy when gluing it to the gear (Mistake #2)
MAKE SURE you wait for it to completely dry before putting the rubber belt on (#3)
MAKE SURE you do not have the rubber belt on while waiting for the glue/epoxy to dry. (#4)
Lots of errors today. I blame the 3 hours of sleep I had.
Well folks, it's just about finished! About 4 coats of clear (glossy) are on it now, and it's waiting for the little girl! IMHO, it's finished and awaiting a test-pilot.
I do have one final issue, I need to drill a screw hole for the steering linkage in the tail. I've destroyed a Dremel drill bit here, and ruined another regular drill bit that I thought was a metal bit. Wrong.
I will post tomorrow thoughts, ideas, opinions, suggestions, etc. tomorrow.
Total duration of build (in days): 23
Total Hours for build: 100-125 hrs
Cost: Close to $$500-800, not a cheap project and not one I will repeat any time soon mainly due to the cost.
I bought too much in some cases, and now I have a lot of paint that I'll never use. I have a lot of scrap ply, and I had to replace tools and worn bits.
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