Building an Ariane V7Building an Ariane V7 Here's some data and pictures (courtesy of Norbert Hübner)
about building an Ariane V7.
| Parts (in building order) | Weight |
|---|---|
| Paint (dyed epoxy resin) | 8 g |
| Glass fabric (25 g/m²) - 20 mm strip at the leading edge, including resin | 3 g |
| Carbon fabric (80 g/m²) - outer layer and reinforcements (Source) | 40 g |
| Resin for wetting the carbon layer | 24 g |
| Foam core (net weight) | 30 g |
| Carbon rovings (12000 type) 30 rovings inboard (less towards wingtips) top and bottom) | 27 g |
| Shear webs, balsa with vertical grain, width 9 mm inboard, 3 mm outboard (net weight) | 16 g |
| Glass fabric (25 g/m²) reinforcements at aileron hinge (top) and gap seal (bottom) | 1 g |
| Servo wires | 8 g |
| Resin for glueing together top and bottom | 33 g |
| Wing total weight (including wiring, excluding servos) | 190 g |
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A machine for saturating the carbon rovings: The roving gets soaked in the epoxy resin beaker (middle) and then pulled through a narrow, adjustable gap. Finally the rollers (front, inside the blue box) make for an even distribution and removal of excess epoxy. |
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Vacuum pump: An old fridge compressor fitted with a cooling fan and a vacuum gauge. |
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Fuse halves curing in the vacuum bag. |
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Top and bottom halves of the V-tail. |
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Top and bottom wing halves after curing of the outer sheeting and the spar. Foam core and balsa shear web are still protruding the separation surface. |
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Foam core and balsa shear web getting milled down flush with the separation surface. |
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A plywood template helps to make the cutouts for servos and ailerons. |
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Wing halves ready for installing the servos, cables, antenna, etc. |
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The mold is closed, the wing curing under pressure from carpenter's clamps (lots of them). |
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That's how it looks (with a little luck) after opening the mold. The wing still sticks to the lower half of the mold. No problem, some compessed air will usually make it pop out. |