Trailer Fitting

On Friday 23rd October, John Ridge towed the AS K21 trailer to Waikerie to allow the glider to be fitted. No work was possible that weekend, with a large influx of visitors for “Everything Aeronautical”. Twenty six aircraft flew in – many just for the day and 50 stayed on for dinner on Saturday evening.
Last weekend, (31st October) was a normal flying weekend. Gliding conditions were reasonable, but it took a long time to warm up – so a late start. Pete Siddal flew the Tug, Bradley McKay had 3 flights in the ’21, Dion Baker had his annual check-flight, while other Club pilots explored the lift in climbs to around 10,000 Ft. Towards the end of the day, Pete Siddal swapped saddles and flew the ’21 and Greg Jackson flew the Tug – thanks Greg. While the flying continued, Aiden and Nigel Baker took the opportunity to use a mechanical “lift” to fix the problems with the hangar doors – both the eastern and western ends. It’s now a dream to open/close the doors – a huge thankyou to Aiden and Nigel, well done.
After dinner on Saturday evening, Peter Robinson presented an informative session on Low Level Finishes, which particularly focussed on the high workload which is created when this is undertaken.
On Sunday 1 November, a small band of members gathered to “fit” the AS K21 into the trailer. The ’21 was derigged and the wings “fitted”, allowing the wing dollies to be tested and measurements taken for the permanent installation of the fittings before the fuselage was “fitted”. It is necessary to complete all of the fitting which involves welding before the skin is attached. The “skin” will be white colour bond sheet, fixed to the trailer with 3M “very high bond tape” (effectively a double sided tape. A big thankyou to John Ridge, Peter Paine, Art Hohmann, Craig Vinall and Nigel Baker who persisted for several hours to complete the job. The trailer was then towed back to John Ridge’s place – where the build will be completed.
Another great effort on the weekend by Craig Vinall, who mowed the 02/20 strip and most of the 08/26 strip. Great effort.
John Hudson