Winglet cores and layups

I purchased my winglet cores from Eureka CNC. As always, they did a phenomenal job.

Here are the top and bottom winglet cores...

First step is to bond the two upper cores. To do this, I will insert the leading edge core into the shell it came in...

This gave me an easy way to hold the core on the worktable... notice how I wrapped tape around the core so that any micro runoff would not stick the core to the shell...

Mixed up some slurry and bonded the TE core to the LE core...

I then repeated this for the other winglet... and let them cure...

The next day, I taped the jigs onto the inboard surface so that they would not move around while doing the outboard surface layup. I used two for each winglet...

I then cut the fiberglass cloth per plans (2 uni plies crossing from corner to corner)...

Wetted everything out and then added the lower BID reinforcement. I had previously drawn the high-performance rudder hingeline and so I made sure the BID ply did not extend past it.

I then peel plied the BID portion and the leading edge... and repeated everything for the other winglet, finishing both outboard surface layups in one day. Notice the foam shims making sure the winglets had zero twist.

The next day, I trimmed everything up...

Rough trim first... then used the router to give me a perfectly straight flush trailing edge...

The winglets are a perfect place to mount the com antennas, as they need to be vertical. I used the same technique as the nav antennas in the wings. I marked where the antenna should go (based on the high-performance rudder plans), and milled out the thickness of the antenna so that it will sit flush with the inboard surface...

I then used a drill to mill out the center cube of the antenna where the BNC connector goes...

Using the dremel, I milled out the channel for the BNC cable along the leading edge...

I then placed the antenna into position and used Liquid X-30 pour foam to fill the channels...

While I was working on installing the antennas onto both winglets, my dad was helping me trim the trailing edge fishtail...

Look at'em go!

We then sanded the trailing edge smooth... and used the dremel with a sanding wheel to get a nice glass-to-glass surface prep on the trailing edge...

And when the liquid foam cured, we sanded the surface and leading edge smooth too...

With the antennas installed, the surfaces cleaned up and the trailing edges prepped, we then glassed the inboard layup (same as the outboard layup)...

Waited a day for cure and then trimmed everything up. And there you have it... two winglets ready to be installed onto the wings! The rudders will be cut out later. Notice the BNC cable coiled up and protected with a plastic bag at the bottom of the winglets.