As several of you know I have been talking about building a 40% scale
model of the Europa. Can't start on a 100% scale one for a year, so this
is the next best thing. Well, I just got the 3 view drawings back from
the Blueprint shop. They were able to take the .dxf cad file I got from
Graham Clark and make a set of working drawings for me. A seven foot
Europa fuselage sure looks mighty big unrolled on the floor of my office.
Will be doing a wet layup, ala Rutan, fuselage plug to use in making a
set of fuselage molds. Wing and tail will be hot wired foam same as the
full size plane. One of the reasons for making this model is to work out
vacuum bagging techniques for the flying surfaces. I like the wet layup
construction of the Europa flying surfaces but I think a lot of time can
be saved if some of the jigging and vacuum bagging techniques that are
used by companies like Boeing are utilized in the fabrication of the
flying surfaces. Boeing is using my quality control software in their
Composite Shop in Philadelphia, PA so I have had a chance to see how they
attack the problems.
Now that I have exposed this project to the scrutiny of the mail group I
will have to complete it or go retreat in disgrace ;-) Will periodically
let you know how it is progressing. If anyone has any ideas about
fabrication methods that they were afraid to try on their full size bird
let me know. This is many orders of magnitude cheaper.
Steve
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