Simon Ward 2

Great work as usual Chris. I'm still planking, hopefully should have the last few strips installed this evening, and then I can start to think about joining both fuselage half's together. All the best. Simon.

Looking good Chris, really coming along. Very neat work too. Regards, Simon.

Chris, the Sabre Dog's looking fantastic. You're doing a wonderful job on the construction. Really looking forward to seeing this take to the air off the Great Orme in June. All the best, Simon.

A bit of a quick update on the build. So the wing was joined using epoxy, and when set, I added a double thickness bandage around the wing. This was made from a 1" wide strip of 50gm/ sq mtr glass cloth with another layer of the same weight but this time 3" wide, over the top. I used some laminating epoxy and just barely 'wetted' out the cloth. This step was probably unnecessary, but it does give peace of mind, during those high g manoeuvres So just the belly pan and the infill/reinforcement at the TE should see the wing more or less complete, bar the covering. Out of curiosity, I popped the wing and some of the hardware onto the scales to get a rough idea of weights: Not sure what glass cloth and paint will add, but the wing feels light and stiff for it's size, quite happy with that. So, next step is the fuselage. Being a couple of steps behind most of the build blogs has allowed me to check out the sequence of construction. I've got to say the basic frame came together very quickly, which can mean only one thing. Planking!! I re-read Chris Barlow's top ten tips on planking and jumped right in. Only got the first 3 planks on this evening, but it wasn't as bad as expected, probably as these first planks are generally quite easy to line up and glue on. Speaking of which, I decided to try and use a glue combination, of good old balsa cement running along the length of the plank, with Zap-a-gap tacking the plank to the formers. A few 'sharp' pins, held the planks in place relative to their neighbour. Appears to work, as long as the gaps between planks doesn't get too big. Probably got quite a few hours on this planking now, so I'll post again when it's more of less complete. Bye for now. Simon.

Good to be back Chris. Your 'Sabre Dog' is progressing very well indeed. Fantastic woodworking skills, I'm sure she'll be a 'cracker' when completed. If you have any issues regarding torque rods, I'll do my best to help out. I noticed 'The Boss' (Phil) is also using torque rods, on a low winger like this, I still think it might be the most robust method of moving the ailerons. We shall see. Regards, Simon.

Well, after a longer break than I'd expected, I've finally managed to put a bit of time in on the Sabre build this last week. Mostly bringing the right wing panel up to the same point as the left. Next job was to sort out the torque rods. They're quite 'beefy' so I had to remove quite a bit of material from the root trailing edge. I used a combination of permagrit rotary files and needle files. The pictures should show the process: Next job was to check the movement of the rods by dry fitting the assembly to the wing: All looking good so far, so onto the next step of attaching the torque rods to the false leading edge with a few drops of superglue. When dry, I then used some Hysol to glue the trailing edges on, with a small amount smeared over the torque tubes that extend into the aileron section: So, the last job I tackled this evening, was to spot glue the ailerons onto the wing, which allowed me to sand them and the wing to a reasonable level. The wingtips were also laminated with balsa cement, so really need to leave them overnight to fully harden. Hopefully should be able to get the wing glued up over the weekend and finally off the jig Let's hope the next update doesn't take quite so much time. Regards, Simon.