Speaking of the beginning, here's a little post about the work that was done back in January of this year. (Yikes! You mean to tell me this year is over already?!) I skimmed over this particular subsection during the nose gear box build, but feel it's an important assembly step to cover.
The nose gear reminded me of one of those kits you purchase that has all of the components in it and you just have to put the pieces together. Except bigger and a bit more labor intensive. And I don't believe it was really a kit you could purchase and know that everything you need is in a box. In fact, the nose gear is nothing like those kits, so nevermind.
Enter the glass strut:
This was a purchased piece that alleviated the need to spend hours putting together (and potentially messing up) a very critical piece of the airplane. Plus, we would not have been able to make it with the equipment we currently have, anyway. In order to discourage delamination, the plans call for wrapping the strut with two plies of BID. Before getting around to applying the additional glass, the strut had to be checked for fit and trimmed a bit. Once that was taken care of, the first layer of BID was laid down with peel-ply. Once that cured, the peel-ply was removed (leaving behind a lovely surface for additional bonding), the strut was flipped over, and another ply of BID laid down.
All the while the strut was curing, the NG-30s were coming together. With those figured out, the MKNG-6 (the metal piece below) was fit checked.
The purchased electric nose gear drive was also fit in place and everything bolted together. From there, the strut was placed and aligned.
When everything looked proper, the strut was bonded into the MKNG-6 with flox.
As the flox cured, Ced put together the "backup plate NG-5" which is the "plate (that) protects the strut after the puck is gone" during a nosewheel up landing, should one occur.
Not pictured are the bonding of the MKNG-3, -4, and -15A. These are the metal bits around the middle of the strut and at the end of the strut. Just imagine some sanding, fit-checking, and floxing and you'll be caught up.
From here we got into putting the nose gear floor and walls on, but I'll show you the nose gear wheel because it's so shiny.
Ah, isn't that better? There's the mostly complete nose gear minus an airplane. It certainly looks like it can get some maneuvering done, right? I think so.
Oh, and in case you'd like to see the gear retract (minus the wheel), here you go:
