As you can see, the new shipment of tubes has arrived. Visible progress is made again today. Overall I’m happy with the result, there are always little things that do not quite turn out as intended, but since this is all about learn as you build, it’s not a disaster. (So far I have not had to scrap anything)
The outline of the rudder is not 100% accurate, I went more along the route of TLAR. I might have a couple of square inches more rudder area, which never hurts. Most of the rudder was build freehand. I pre-bend the outline of the TE as much as I could, then stuck the front of the tube in the top rudder tube, soldered the main post, and added the ribs as I went, keeping a nice smooth shape as I progressed.
Again, 2 bottles of sand were blasted into the atmosphere. At 8 bar air pressure, the ribs do deform, better use 5-6 bar and take longer. Nothing drastic, but keep it in mind.
I found out that stress was present in the construction (surprise) which causes a slight bow in the rudder post. The balancing part of the rudder is now to close to the rudder part. Nothing that can’t be fixed, but it goes to show how much tension develops in the parts after cooling down. I could of course stick everything in an oven @600C for 24 hrs. Only problem is I don’t have one.
