Saturday 3rd November
I was going to start with the pod, and reread the instructions a couple of
times. They talk about a hole in the front of the pod for the compression strut
to exit, but there is no hole. I called Flylight, and they faxed me a diagram of
the dimensions of the required hole. I will scan the diagram later and post it
here.
Didn't fancy cutting fibreglass for some reason, so decided instead to put
the sail on the wing - on reflection, the fact it was a glorious day had
something to do with it!
Carelessness and foolishness combined in a couple of very silly mistakes.
Easily recoverable, just at the expense of some wasted time.
Hours effort: 6
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With the benefit of hindsight, trying to do the job on my
drive is not the best idea I've had. There just isn't the space, and it's
too hard trying to keep the sail clean.
The first step is to lay out the wing frame. |
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Here's the sail, in a tiny little folded bundle. This gives
you no clue of how hard it is to control it when it's all unfolded -
trying to keep it crease free is nigh on impossible. |
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So I laid it out, folded as recommended in the manual to
give a straight path to insert the leading edges through the nose of the
sail. |
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All the sharp edges and protuberances were sheathed in
bubble wrap first, to avoid damaging the sail. |
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You have to scrunch the whole sail onto the leading edges up
to the cross struts, so you can move your trestle (Read: Black and Decker
Workmate!) to the end of the leading edges. Sounds easy, but try letting
go. It all flies off the end again.
Fitting the sail is a two-man job (3 at times) and no mistake.
Fortunately, I was able to call on my family and neighbours at odd times
during the day. |
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Blankets and old sleeping bags on the ground in an attempt
to keep the sail clean. Managed OK, but had to keep repositioning them. |
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The opening in the nose of the sail is just big enough to go
over the hang point. It wasn't hard, but I'd recommend moving it a centimetre
at a time by pulling the nose, then working back down the sail making sure
it isn't snagged anywhere. Using this technique, it went on with no
problem. |
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Another difficult point is when you reach the cross-strut to
keel bracket. Much careful easing required here.
This is a 'measure twice, cut once' deal. More on this later |
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Once the wing is on, the two landing wires can be attached
to the leading edge/cross-strut hinge, after passing through the opening
in the top of the sail.
This is another 'measure twice, cut once' deal, and again more on this
later. |
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The flying wires are now lead out of the bottom of the sail.
These will attach to the end of the control frame. |
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The wing tips are bolted through a sleeve in the leading
edges. The single bolt at the end will later be used to tension the sail. |
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Remember the second 'measure twice, cut once' above? Can you
spot the mistake?
The little black bracket goes into the top of the kingpost and it is
upside-sodding-down! Oh well - I just had to undo the connections to the
leading edges and swap them around. |
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It's actually starting to look like a wing, at this stage.
Not a lot, I'll admit, but it's getting there.
Bit saggy without the battens in. Must remember not to try and fly it
like this! |
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This is pictured as a mess on purpose. This is the pull back
harness which tensions the landing wires, and the reflex bridle too. When
you are feeding the reflex wires through the pulley, it's almost
impossible to figure out what should pass in front of what! As long as the
main wire that runs from the top of the king post to the back of the keel
is straight, the rest don't really matter, as it's easy to undo them from
the trailing edge to rerun them later. |
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Finally - here's the wing under tension. No need for wingtip
supports anymore! This was a very satisfying point to reach. |
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Here's the top of the kingpost, which looked such a mess two
pictures earlier. It's easy to see what goes where now. The loose wire
will connect to the adjustable trim system later. |
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Here's the bottom on the rear landing wire, connected via a
swan neck to the end of the keel.
I was very pleased with myself at this stage; only the hang point
to refit, and I can start connecting the control frame, I thought........ |
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......then I discovered I'd run the keel inside the wing all
the way, instead of passing outside to allow access to the hang point.
When I first spotted this, I had such massive brain-fade that I actually
called Flylight. I was honestly thinking at this point that there had been
a manufacturing error in the sail. How stupid can you get! |
