Originally posted by jlong34016
'Just curious but if you got this thing essentially prebuilt how did you see all of this stuff?
Jlong, as for the Carbon in the fins you can see the outline of the inlay slightly bulging the lamination everywhere the carbon is.
Also, I looked right at the carbon peeking out the bare wood bottom of the fins before I glued them in.
Regarding the leading edge, the Diamond Dusts have always used a hollow
round carbon tube, this cannot be sharpened to a point and leave you a tube left at all. My "Clipped Wing 'Dust" leading edge is a fully sharpened 60 degree point. So clearly Jeff Gilbert added material in front of the tube.
The Kevlar cord can be seen easily right through the white ultracote, there is one spanwise wrap around the whole airplane at the front mainspar tube, and two wraps at the rear mainspar. (You can also clearly see that Jeff actually laminated the cords up and down to the inside of the covering with perfect continuous strips of either more ultracote or some kind of tape). The wraps have multiple functions, they stiffen the airframe, and they stiffen the open covering sections to prevent drumming which reduces drag, keeps the covering from loosening and fatigueing, and helps prevent elevon flutter.
But just as important to me personally as seeing the beautiful work he put into my airplane with my own eyes, the reason I know whats in it is because Jeff Gilbert
told me exactly how he was going to biuld it, and I have grown to trust him completely. I have only been this pleased with the workmanship of a prebuilt airplane one other time, and that was a "Richard Verano Special" F3D racer which cost $1000 from Harold Sattler of H&M Racing.
Best regards, Chuck Roundy