Progress Up-Date - New Parts

[Guest TOSGcentral]

A bit of a catch up on parts progress – especially for those who are patiently waiting, and all those who cannot wait and have been hitting me with orders for items that are not even made yet!

 

 

ANGLE OF INCIDENCE BRACKET. I had the prototype in my hands yesterday and it is turning out to be a beautifully engineered piece of work. Like any prototype, turning the concept into reality brings with it real challenges.

 

 

One has been accurately drilling the angle for the spar mounting bolt as the plates on the bracket are much thicker than the original. That has been resolved and a jig designed so the things can be turned out to order.

 

 

Of more concern is the splay angle of the A frame plugs so that the new bracket will fit directly on to the existing boom pick-up bracket. I do not want to have to tamper with the boom bracket if that can be avoided. There is a three way discussion en-train at the moment between the engineer, fabricator and myself to resolve this.

 

 

If we get no further hiccups I will have the finished prototype early next week and should be able to test fly it in a further seven days. If it works (as it should) then they will be available almost immediately – but only on individual order, certified and serial numbered. Have not got a clue what they will cost yet until the prototype is finished.

 

 

UNDERCARRIAGE CARRY FRAME. This has come up very well and I have the prototype in my workshop. I now have to fit it to a T500 frame, do a bit of drilling and then weather proof it. A jig has already been made for this for rapid fabrication. Again I do not know the final price until it is finally finished – which should be only a few days now. The prototype is already sold anyway so do not bother asking for it.

 

 

The concept here (for newcomers) has been to rationalise the complex and expensive original inner and outer heavy duty carry beam into something a bit smaller and simpler. Even so the new beam comes out 1 kg heavier than the combined original – but you are going to have to try very hard to bend this one!

 

 

ENGINE MOUNT. There is not a lot of call for these but once you have broken one they tend to stay broken. I have pulled a heavy duty version off another Thruster to be replicated for an order that has come in. At the same time a jig is being made for this as well so I shall be adding this to the list of available parts.

 

 

REAR FUSELAGE ENCLOSURE. As part of the Swift project which includes enclosing the rear fuselage on the TST and T300s I have a jig now being made for the spreader sub-frame that goes under the fuel tank. This tends to be the awkward part of making the rear enclosure – especially with the larger barrel tanks. So that is also being resolved.

 

 

PODS. I had a final look at the Swift Mk 3 pod yesterday and OK’d it to cast the mould from. We have reduced the size of the air intakes a bit, adjusted the alignment and extended the instrument panel moulding for a larger instrument panel on the Mk2 and/or the ventilator outlets on the Mk3. Should have the first production examples ready for full details in the next Bulletin.

 

 

ANTI-INTERFERENCE DRAG FAIRING. Over the next week I shall begin carving the plug for these above cockpit fairings. They will be available in two sizes – to fit the standard aircraft or the lowered wing version with the A of I bracket fitted. Either can have air intakes for head level ventilation in the fully enclosed cockpit versions.

 

 

WHEEL SPATS. I also rolled the start of casting new moulds for wheel spats that will also be capable of encasing a disk or drum brake system. They will be a few months down the track before they are available.

 

 

That is it for the moment

 

 

Aye

 

 

Tony

 

 

[Guest TOSGcentral]

Yeah well! It has been one helluva week for geometry!

 

A of I Bracket. Good news and bad news!

 

Good news is that what appeared to be a nearly insurmountable geometry problem has been fixed and everthing is starting to go together the way intended.

 

Unfortunately the geometry change dominoed into the cockpit area resulting in another hour's angst this morning. That has also been resolved and will be fixed by a bit of accurate measurimg and some line drilling in a drill press on Monday.

 

Then will I will have a flyable prototype component in my hands and can move ahead into test flying.

 

I am pulling T300 381 out of the air this weekend, de-rigging it and moving it to the workshop, collecting the bracket Monday and all things being equal will have the new bracket under test flying by next weekend if the weather is OK.

 

The bad news! There is no bad news! Which I suppose is good news! But I do have a word of advice. You have heard of the expression "Don't try this at home"? Don't -this exercise, for something that seemed simple, has been a bastard of a task to get really kosher.

 

I will post some pics of the new bracket early next week but meantime I intend a couple of hours of solid circuits and stalling in a T500 to bring my own flying currency right up to speed.

 

The new undercarriage carry beam is now OK and I am taking in the final drilling measurements with me on Monday when I pick up the new A of I bracket.

 

I still do not know what anything is going to cost because my fabricator has become so engrossed with the project that he has not done the costing sums.

 

I will post on that lot later as well.

 

Aye

 

Tony