Something changed radically in the shop this past week – a milestone came and passed – and so did those huge long wings for the Xenos! Notice the workbench? No wings! With the help of a lot of airpark neighbors, we had a marathon month of drilling, deburring, and riveting, and the long motor glider wings are now tucked safely in their racks, awaiting installation in the fuselage – which now comes back to center stage as we pull out the drawings and figure out where we left off.
Looks like it is time to mount the tail surfaces so we can then get on to working on controls. We’ve left it off the gear for now, just to keep it more compact and lower for ease of access. But that might change before we know it as well – we’ll see.
About all those neighbors – its great to have a good old fashioned barn raising, isn’t it? Good times, good conversations, and lots of help to drill, debur, and rivet. Lots of eyes on the project as well, and everyone was empowered to call a “Stop!” if they saw something was getting missed, or if they didn’t understand where anyone was going. And something nice about having builder-neighbors – they come with their own tools, and having more tools in a project like this is a force multiplier.
Now all of the borrowed clecos are back where they belong, we’ve cleaned up a box full of aluminum shavings, and we’ve reset the shop. Because, you know… there’s a jet coming soon too!
