info(at)flylightning.net
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 Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:12 am Post subject: No Title |
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Group,
The structure or tail section areas have not been lighten by 150lbs. The first fuselage shell, everyone knows as the prototype weighed about 140lbs. The current shell weighs 106lbs, a savings of 36 lbs. The flying surfaces in the tail section i.e.; rudder elevator horizontal tails, have been lightened by about 1-2lbs apiece. Saving around 6 lbs in the tail. Other structures like the wings are down from 98lbs panels on the prototype to 78 lbs on current models. The average weight decrease from the prototype has been about 80lbs. In no way did Arion Aircraft shave weight at the cost of structural integrity. Most of the weight savings came from new core materials, better use of resins thru vacuum infusion, and yes somewhat lighter lay-ups where on the prototype the schedule was not what was called for in the design thru a mis-communication long before production. The small void you may see in the leading edges of the rudder or even the vertical stab of the fuse is where the two parts meet and is not a issue. The flying surfaces are in-fact bonded together with a 2” wide bond strip on the inside which doubtfully you can see. This would explain why looking at the front it may appear that the surface are not stripped together when the are. This would be the case when looking at any of the bonded parts from the seam side. There are no seams in the leading edge of the elevator. The vertical tail section of the aircraft has a lay-up schedule of 4oz-10oz-core-10oz-4oz, this is the shell itself, the half’s are than stripped together using 2 layers of 8” wide 10oz cloth, it is doubt-full that this area was “ so thin it was not safe”. All parts are removed from the molds and inspect for quality. They are than placed in an assembly fixture to be built. The fiberglass shop responsible for the parts builds many other aircraft parts of which several have STC’s or PMA approvals and go thru very strict quality control processes. Arion Aircraft has chosen to use these same processes when manufacturing the components for the Lightning Kit aircraft .We pride our selves on a good light weight safe part and if a part does not meet this we would not let it out the door. It is possible that a part may be incorrect and we would certainly take note. Remember we put our butts into these things as well, fly family and friends and would never sacrifice a parts quality or integrity to save a few pounds.
As for the pin holes, dupont sells a very nice high build primer which works well to fill them.
Nick Otterback
Arion Aircraft, LLC
From: owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com] On Behalf Of GARY PENNINGTON
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 10:19 AM
To: lightning-list
Subject:
Good morning everyone
I have both a build question I would like to ask and a build situation I'd like to share with everyone.
[b]Question:[/b] Does anyone have an easy way to fill those annoying "Pin Holes"?
[i]Comment[/i][b]:[/b] While I was working on the tail and control surfaces, I found several issues that needed to be addressed.
First, the fiberglass on the leading edges of the Rudder, elevator and portions of the Vertical Tail were [b]very [/b]
thin, and in a couple areas, so thin it would not have been safe. I re-fiberglassed these areas for structural
integrity. I understand Arion has recently lightened the tail about 150 lbs. For safety, it may be a good idea
to add one or two pounds back.
Second, the surfaces are laid in molds and the halves are then bonded together with resin or epoxy.
Many of these bonded seams were not bonded or poorly bonded. Some were separated by at least 1/16".
I used AeroPoxy to repair these areas. It may be a good idea to examine your surfaces for the same problem.
Thanks everyone. Fly safe.
Gary Pennington
email: pennington(at)q.com (pennington(at)q.com)
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