All quiet on the Southern Front

For all those out there eager to see progress, join the club!!  We've had a very cold start to our winter and working in unheated hangars (are there any other varieties?) has sort of put paid to any meaningful work that can be a) commented on, or b) illustrated.  So Rex has retired to his heated garage to work on the metal aileron fittings and I have done a little work on covering the ailerons themselves.  Once Rex has finished the fittings -and the weather warms up a bit!- we'll be close to doing some trial fitting of the wings.  THEN you'll get to see some photos!  The trial fitting is, of course, needed so that we can do some calculations as to the dimensions for the Interplane V struts, flying and landing wires, and the length -and positioning- of the ailerons control rods.  Specifically the clearance of the already fitted instruments.

Another skill just learnt has been swaging -the first attempt being a total failure! But I think I've got things right now for the undercarriage bracing and the brake cables (drums not discs).

Actually there is a photo I can provide of the Morane G that has been sharing our hangar to date and which is now completed and on display at the Aviation Heritage Centre.  This represents the Russian Alexandr Kozakov's machine with grappling hook thrown out to rip a wing away.

The jigsaw starts to get assembled!

The front cowlings are now on, followed by the lacing to keep the top cowl on.  And then the roundels and lettering on the rudder.  In the background is a Morane G being constructed first of all as a display model but ultimately to be a fully fledged flying replica.

No, that is NOT her towel!

Friends

I've said it before and have no apology for saying it again: we are a lucky community here at Omaka to have people willing to give of their time and expertise in helping our project along.

The latest example was when our aircraft engineer and inspector rolled up his sleeves (I talk figuratively because it was actually snowing outside!) to help fabric the fuselage.  I was merely expecting him to do one side but, no, he did both sides plus the top, leaving me to just tidy up the edges and sort out how we are going to deal with the various cable outlets.

Great progress! So we might just have it sort of ready for any TV crews coming down here at the end of the month for coverage of the Rugby World Cup Russian team's 'capping' at the AHC early nect month.

A separate project is the construction of a Morane G to the original specs to demonstrate the Russian Kozakov's grappling hook idea.  This will eventually be turned into a flying replica but for the moment it will hang in the atrium of the centre.