steam punk projects
Greetings again one and all, I recently dusted out the workshop and found a supply of suitable material to move further along with my flight pack project.
Naturally the first stage toward completing this marvelous contraption was to install the wings onto the casing proper. Unfortunately in my eagerness to complete the wings themselves I made a design error and was forced to drill more holes into the ribs to allow another piece of tubing to be inserted. the overall strength of the wings was lacking and i needed to reinforce them before attaching them. I drilled through the main body and inserted a section of aluminium tubing then mounted the wings onto that. The first rib of each wing was also glued and screwed into the rocket motor supports and left to set.
I also added a plywood stinger to the trailing area of the wings to give it better rigidity and to help it hold there shape.
(next time when i build the mark 2 version and yes gentle readers there will be a mark 2, i will simply use two six foot lengths and drill through the casing for both, this will save time and mean i can make the ribbing more like that of a world war one aircraft)
Despite the mistakes I am happy enough with the result. Whilst rummaging around i found some decent scrap material suitable for skinning the wings. I started out by laying over the wing and making sure it would cover them correctly, then using drawing pins and pva glue i set out to attaching the material to the wing ribs.
This was repeated on the other wing, and left to dry. at this stage as i write only the undersides have been so done, but I will be returning to them once the glue has dried and will recommence work on the top surfaces.
One may note that the back plate has been removed, this was to allow me to get the material to fit properly and will be reattached once the gluing and eventual sewing has been completed, then I will turn my attention to the rocket motor itself and the control mechanisms.
until next time then,
chin chin.