31. Tool used for cutting the grooves
32. Using a ruler to cut the grooves straight... Unfortunately was in the wrong side. Not the first time I have done this.
Enlarged view
33. Grooves cut... Unfortunately was in the wrong side. Not the first time I have done this. The grooves to the tip are made in the top half of the wing only.
34. Looking at the wing top half (with the grooves now on the correct side) after it has been removed from the mould and tack glued back in place using small aligment marks visible in the flashing. This is done to both top and bottom wing halves to remove any pre tension. 12 grams of epoxy is mixed and coloured red and some of this resin is applied to a plastic sheet with a 16mm brush and uniformly spread out. This plastic sheet is then put onto the foam (Rohacell-31), coating the foam in epoxy, and the same happens to the second side. The remainder of the resin is painted around the edges with a brush. 2 Grams stays on the plastic sheet and 1 gram with the brush; some is expelled from the wing. About 6 grams is required to join the finished wing. 1mm wires are put in the grooves to form tunnels for leadouts.
35. This is a view of the bottom half of a wing, made previously. The 2 wing halves will be joined using small marks to align them. A second mould was cast from the original to help assembly and support the wing shape whilst under vacuum.
36. The wing is vacuumed together between the original mould (bottom) and second mould (with the coarse outer surface) (top). After 6 hours it is removed, excess epoxy is removed with methanol. The LE edge and tips are trimmed to the finish. The TE edge is cut to the finished size using a template.
37. Inserting the tip guide.
38. Tip guide is glued in place.
