SZD-56 Diana 2

The Sungazer Scale Slope event is just over a month away , and scale gliders are currently flavour of the month.

Laptop problems have really slowed my posts on this build thread but I am online so here goes.

The wings were bagged and came out well at about 1kg each which is ok for a 2mtr wing.

The ply end ribs attached and then its 2 rounds of light sanding and spray with 2k. The curved leading edge was achieved by cutting 3 panels and carefull sanding. the tail boom and fin now go onto the pod, more filling, and spraying once that is complete. Looking good for the Sungazer Scale slope fly-in.

The rolled boom tube is made up of uni-directional carbon lengthways and two layers of 163gr glass and a finishing layer of 104gr its light and strong.

The paint is sanded away on the parts to be bonded so the epoxy can adhere well.

Some time and care is needed to align the boom in all 3 planes but with some jigging and reference lines the end result looks to be ok.

The boom to fuse join has been filled with a mix of balloons and epoxy and sanded to shape.

The final coats of 2k white will cover the join.

In this photo I have also sanded the wing end ribs to get a parallel fit to the fuselage sides.

The tailplane is being built last and is blue foam with a balsa veneer ,to keep the weight down in the rear, as this glider has a long tail moment arm, and I would like to put the elevator servo in the tailplane with a direct coupling.Weight needs to be saved behind the balance point.

The Diana 2 is starting to look like a glider and in this photo the balsa winglets are being attached prior to glassing and spraying.

Hope it flies as sexy as it looks.

Cheers for now.