[simpits-tech] A-4 website updated again

[Sean Galbraith]

>Sailplane pits are easy. Except for radios there are 4, maybe 5 controls
>in there. Get him to pull a mold off the front end of a fuselage and
>it's half done ;)

Easier than that... he's got the forward fuse, seat and canopy off a busted 
DG200 (IIRC) which will be the donor for the project.  I think his plan is 
to make it portable and cart it round to airshows and the like as an 
interactive recruiting tool for the sport.

>Back to your canopy, I thought about it a little more (I have to do the
>same thing for my homebuilt) and it seems to me the way to do it would
>be to tape off the sill, lay a couple of layers of glass on it, spray on
>some foam, shape it, lay on more glass making sure to completely enclose
>the foam. Build up a flange to attach the bubble and
>rivet/screw/bond/duct tape it on there. Might also be good to bond in a
>chunk of steel box tubing at the back to attach the hinges.

Best part about the A-4 canopy is that there is a heap of meat in the lower 
section of the frame (look at any photo...) so I could even bury some 
aluminium longerons in there.

I could build a box frame to mount the pivot and glass that into the back, 
and maybe connect it to the longerons.......  this is getting better.

>Glass is great stuff. The less flat the part is, the easier it is to
>make and the stronger it turns out.

Well it will be nowhere near flat so it should be as strong as houses!

Do you know of any online tutorials on glass stuff?  Really need to learn 
more now :)   All I've ever done with glass is some crash repair on various 
bikes.... (and even some carbon on my 400RR!)

Sean.