Piper Tomahawk
Scroll to the bottom of the page for the latest in this build project
This one's been a long time in the making. I bought the Airsail Tomahawk kit around Easter time in 2002, built most of the fuselage, and then left it. Then after I built my first Capiche 50, I had the get-up-and-go to do some more of it. Then not long after, it got left again. Now, this year, one of my New Year resolutions was to really get a move on and get it built. And just recently (at long bloody last) I cleared the bench, laid out the plans, and got building. There is still a lot of work to be done on it, but hopefully this 'online diary' will keep me going at it till it is finished (and I'm not even going to look at my Super Chipmunk kit until this one's in the air).
So, what do we have so far? Well, the fuselage is taking shape, the Tail plane and elevator are as good as complete, and the basic structure of the wing is there, complete with the dual bell-crank mechanisms for the ailerons and flaps.
The next thing to do is construct the ailerons and flaps, and shape the trailing edge of the wing to match. The control linkages on this kit are well though out, and only the rudder linkage is on the outside of the plane. The elevator linkage is inside the top of the fin, so once it's finished it can't be seen. The aileron and flap linkages are also very clever. The ailerons are hinged at the top, the flaps hinged at the bottom, a la full size. The pushrods from the bell-cranks exit through holes cut in the trailing edge of the wing, and they connect to control horns which are built into the ailerons and flaps. May not sound riveting but up close, I think its a bit of engineering excellence.
At 72", it is quite a long yet narrow wing, and the fuselage is comparatively short, but very wide.
The photo above shows the dual bell-cranks. Just visible along the leading edge are the two clevises that connect to the aileron and flap.
29th May 2006 update.
Well, After another long lay-up, work re-commenced again a couple of months ago, and now it looks a bit like this:
The wing is now as good as finished, just needs a bit of filling and sanding before covering, and the fuselage has also had some more work done to it now the wing is near completion. As you can see, it's definitely getting there, and at the moment I am hoping to get it finished and test flown this year (yes, that does mean 2006). That will however depend on lots of other projects, one which will take priority over this but shouldn't take too long to do...
UPDATE on 20th January 2008
We have an update to the long-running Tomahawk project - some words from Dave...
" As the photo shows, the wing is now complete bar installation of the servos. Will 2008 really be the year this aircraft takes to the air? Maybe, who knows? But it will definitely have work done on it between my exam sessions."
As you can see from Dave's photo, the airframe is really starting to look much more finished, hopefully as Dave says, we will see it in the air this year.