Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming our sheet metal expert Laurent Tredez back into the team. Laurent had taken a few months away back home in France working on his own projects but now has re-joined us, becoming a leading part of the wing team along with Chris, Murphy and our other new arrival Kian Turner. Kian originally completed a work experience placement in the summer through the Parnall Foundation from back before the summer when he was with us as a work experience student. He impressed us so much we have now welcomed him back to us on a 6 month paid internship.
On the static airframe, more work has taken place to ready the fuselage for its removal from the jig. Tim has completed the shimming and final positioning of the rear wing pick-up mounts and David has machined a set of jacking pads that attach to a pair of bottle jacks which will lift the front of the fuselage, allowing us to disassemble the jig and then lower the fuselage down to the ground to rest on its transport wheels.
On the fuselage build itself, David and Lawrence are continuing to rivet the skins in place and have now fully positioned the starboard canopy rail, drilling and cutting the surrounding skin to suit.
Over in the wing shed, we now have a full team, with Chris, Laurent, Murphy and Kian working hard to build up the port wing to a position where it is ready for paint. Simon has assisted in producing some full length wooden batons that when clamped on, will emulated the curvature of the skin, allowing us to adjust the ribs to their correct position before drilling. Meanwhile, Tim is busy painting the starboard wing components and these should be back by next week, allowing us to assemble them back into the jig and look at riveting them into place.
Friday saw the fuselage removed from the jig and a re-positioning of equipment and parts to enable it to move towards completion. Internal fit out of the cockpit controls can now be carried out much easier. Room is available for the aft fuselage to be fitted when that is complete and also the engine mount. (Images © Parnall Aircraft Ltd)
