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.

Another month goes by.....

There's an old adage about "Good things take time" so the aircraft is going to be in that category -obviously!  Rex has now finished the aileron construction and we just need an inspection and then we can think about their covering.

Not so the wings, of course!  The next step is going to be  a trial mount of the wings to the fuselage to test out a number of things not the least of which is going to be determining the length of the interplane struts.  Now this might pose a bit of a problem as we are somewhat cramped where we are currently located.  The search is on for some kind soul with space to spare so we can do these things.  Not an easy task I have to say as there is a lot of work going on in all the currently available hangars.

However we must still aim to have it flying this year even though a quarter of it has disappeared already!