With the wings complete, we did a full assembly of the airplane to check the fit and learn about the transport, assembly and disassembly process.
The Hiller Aviation Museum (http://www.hiller.org) generously agreed to let us use their large atrium space near the entrance to house the airplane
The airplane as shown is complete except for the fuselage fairing, and the wheel brackets are mockups (both to be completed later). Also, the kingpost we tried to use was too flexible, so we'll be making a stiffer one out of aluminum for the first test flights. (The airplane can fly with or without a kingpost -- having one just makes ground handling easier, but adds about 5 Watts worth of drag.)
We learned a lot about what to pack, how to transport, and how to assemble the plane. Now we just have to finish the final details, and the airplane should be ready for flight!
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| DaSH assembled in the Hiller Aviation Museum |
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| Loading wing sections into the trailer |
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| Transporting the tail boom |
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| The DaSH trailer |
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| Wing assembly frames and some parts |
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| Bringing a wing in |
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| Attaching to wing sections |
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| Securing the wing section with a frame (in lieu of the kingpost) |
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| Putting the end wing section on |
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| A view of the top of the wing |
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| DaSH among the planes on display |
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| Working on the kingpost |
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| Widening a hole for the kingpost wire fitting |
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| Installing the kingpost |
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| This kingpost proved too flexible, we're designing another |
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| Working on the servos |
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| Installing the horizontal tail surface (all-flying elevator) |
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| Installing the vertical tail surface (all-flying rudder) |
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| Testing the prop |
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| Adjusting the prop pitch |
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| Fully assembled plane (sans fairing) |
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| Thinking about the handlebar and control location |
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| Adjusting the idler pulley assembly |
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| Part of the assembly crew from the DaSH team |
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| A view from above |
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| Showing the entire 36.7 m version of the wing from end-to-end |
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| Tightening the Mylar on a wing section |
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| Taping the gap between sections |
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Prior to tail boom attachment |
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| Panorama from beneath the airplane |
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| Panorama from the front, capturing most of the span |
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| Answering questions |
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