It seems like we are nearing the end of this project, but I have been assured that if the maiden flight goes well then there will be a lot more details added to this jet. There are still more things to be done before the maiden flight, but it’s coming close.

Do you remember what the Warthog looked like back in November?

I remember the first time that I saw this jet assembled like this (and notice that the landing gear has not been added at this point) that I had never seen such a huge jet before. It was enormous!

Now that it’s painted, and the gun is mounted on the front, it looks even bigger! Jay is concerned about how it’s going to fit into his car. The wings come off, as he designed them specifically to do, but the jet is 75″ from the tip of the gun to the end of the tail. I’m 5’10”, so that means if it was stood up next to me it would be 5″ taller than me. It’s hard to even imagine that. But doesn’t it look pretty??

The warts have been glued on and painted. Would you like to see how pretty the tail is looking?

This is how it looked back in November after it was first covered with the balsa wood, and prior to being glassed.

I keep using the term ‘pretty’ to describe this, but I know that it’s not a masculine word and so I shouldn’t use it. I can’t help it, though. Isn’t it pretty?? lol As you can see the warts are installed and the servo is all hooked up and working.

Here’s another view of the back of it. The wing had been removed at this point, but that’s because it was being fitted for its pylons. What are pylons? They are the apparatus’ that hold onto the bombs so that the pilot can put a smack down on America’s enemies. Usually the gun is enough to scare the bad guys into needing a new change of pants, but for added emphasis you can’t go wrong with a few bombs.

This is the manufacturing process for these pylons. If I remember correctly, there can be up to 10 of these mounted on the jet at one time. It all depends on how much fire power is needed. These ones are being made out of Styrofoam and balsa wood. Once the shape is perfect they will be fiberglassed and painted.

This is my attempt at trying to show you how they will be mounted. I probably have it in the exact wrong spot and so when Jay sees this he will be laughing his butt off, but that’s what happens when you have an accountant playing around with jet parts. lol. Anyway, they do go on the underside of the wing in some fashion and in specific places for ordinance purposes.

I wanted to show you this picture because I think that it’s so neat to sit there and watch these flaps as they move. The ones on the inside have been engineered to slowly lower themselves into position. They aren’t meant to move rapidly like the ailerons, which help with the steering of the aircraft. Instead the inside flaps can be used for speed brakes and the like.

That’s all for the Warthog part of the post. I wish that you could see it in person because it really is quite neat to see right in front of you. I am always amazed and impressed that Jay can construct something so big and be able to fly it once the weather improves. How can anything that large run on just a battery and a fan? This is why I don’t spend much time contemplating Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose. My mind would be completely boggled.

This weekend we worked on a project that had been a long time coming. We cleaned up the dead pile. Do you remember what it looked like?

Due to an increased number of new planes that have entered the basement workshop in the past few months we needed to free up some space where another PVC pipe plane holder could be placed. As sad as it was, it needed to be done.

Good parts were salvaged and then the planes were disassembled and bagged. It looks a lot nicer, doesn’t it? Now we just have to build the PVC rack.

We will end this post with some random cuteness. I see Bob’s tongue!! Awww…. 🙂