Trent Meteor for 2015 start.

beginning to have second thoughts about continuing with this.
its not the size, its just the worry about strength and weight.
at the moment the fuselage weighs 2lb 10oz so i expect to add another 1lb to 1.5lb when it is finished.

i can pick up the fuselage by the nose and the tail will not drop so with the tubes in the nose/fuselage it should take landing ok i hope.

When yer gorna build a bigun mista

Don't think that will fit in your tent Tony at the flyin

not much to say today.
finished shaping the formers at the nose join, stuck a bit of depron on the fuselage and cut the nose retract supports.

that's it folks.

Why not just take a well deserved rest Tony, even the best of us need some recuperation.

well the nose retract is going in now.
need to design and build the nose leg and sort out the best way to steer it.



i am thinking of fitting an arm to the front of the oleo leg and running pull pull wires back to a servo that will be fixed behind the wheel well.

then comes the problem of the gear doors.

well i spent a happy couple of hours cutting holes in the fuselage.



all that lot only came to 40gms.

still it will be 40 gms lighter than if i hadn't cut them all.

did a little bit more riveting on the armour plate.




latest attempt at a pilot.



i think he will do.

more rivets.

Now would that be a 'Trent' Auster!

how did that there.
bugger.

help needed gents and ladies.

i need to design a pair of wing spars for the main wing, they need to be light but strong.
i was thinking of an I beam design that tapers down at the tips.
3mm lite ply vertical with 3mm lite ply cap strips.
i also need to have them working as the wing joiners to keep the weight down.
any help would be appreciated with this one.

Whist ply is ok for the vertical web it is really unsuitable for the top and bottom flange strips.
In bending one flange is under compression and the other under tension so solid wood rather than ply will give a better strength to weight ratio.
However the big issue with a 'built up' spar is its glue joints. Unless very carefully organised they are likely to fail well before the ultimate strength of the wood components.
These are some types of 'built up' spar that I have used.

As you are working in Depron you could really push the boat out and use my Wood/Depron/Wood solid box type. Very light and structurally efficient and the Depron ribs stick well to it!

group captain Blogs in the cockpit.

bit of light weight filler on the joints.

Depron has not turned up, so i continued to cover the nose with brown paper and pva.
this will protect the depron from hanger rash while i continue with the build.





hope fully the depron will turn up tomorrow and i can cut the wing cores