Late in 2008, we put all the parts on a trailer and drove to Redmond, OR. It gets cold there. We parked the trailer in the snow Sunday evening, drove through the fog and icy road everyday, and came back with the trailer driving over ice and destroying a couple sets of chains.
The 1 week build shop costs a few bucks, but it saves building jigs. And, you get an airplane that's structurally complete with adult supervision, which is sort of nice. It's basically 5 days of sand, flox, eat, sleep and repeat!
We arrived in Redmond on a cold, clear day. That didn't hold
This was more typical - fog and ice, every day for the week
Sam sanding the bonding areas for the wing assembly. Note sealant already installed
Detail of the slosh tank and baffles. The tube is for the aileron pushrod; The bracket is for the speed brake box
Justin and team have the Hysol spread out and are bonding the wing top skin
Sam applying the leading edge reinforcing tapes to complete the wing assembly
Sam and Brett floxing the main spar reinforcing plate
Elevator ready for assembly on the jig. Note balance weight installed
Andy cleaning up flox when bonding the wing center section to the fuselage
Justin and Andy installing the horizontal stabilizer in the jig
Almost done - last piece is the aft fuselage/rudder skin and some reinforcing tapes
Last step is to cut off the rudder with the air-Dremel tool
Back on the trailer - just a 3 big pieces this time
Back to sunny California (after a couple of new chains!)