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Rob's REBVAIR Project
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Date:  10-14-2017
Number of Hours:  4.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  BRS part 1: bridle fairing

With the location of the fuel connections out of the way, the next thing to tackle on the to do list is the BRS aero parachute system. I first started to ponder the installation back in 2010, and settled on the chute location and parachute egress direction with the help of BRS engineers. In addition, we establshed that the parachute bridles (harnesses) would run along the exterior of the roof to the aft wing attach fittings then under the wing-root fairing to the forward wing-attach fittings. Thomas Breitbach has a similar arrangement on his Rebel with a chute from another manufacturer.
While I wait for some system components to arrive from BRS aero, I decided to fabricate the bridle fairings that will protect the harness on the exterior of the aircraft. These are glued on and are designed to tear off the aircraft when the chute deploys. Although they could be made of aluminum there are some faired areas that are better suited to the fiberglass/epoxy medium.

I started, oddly enough, by fabricating a fairing female mold out of 0.016" aluminium. This spans the width of the fuselage, and terminates in a faired end over the wing-root- fairing near the aft wing-attach fittings. Under cover of the fairing, the aramid bridles enter the wing-root area, and trace a path to each wing-attach fittings (see part 2 for routing).

With the aluminum 'mold' bent, cut, and taped, I added 4 layers of cloth, 1 layer of peel-ply, saran wrap, and bags full of sand to force the lay-up to maintain the shape of the mold.

Fellow builder Thomas decided to glass over a male mold of duct tape laid over the actual harnesses, but as is typical for parts made this way, these required finish work to make them aesthetically pleasing.

In contrast, the routing of my harnesses permitted the more linear and easily fabricated fairing you see here.
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aluminum mold with 4 layers of glass

aluminum mold with 4 layers of glass

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peel-ply

peel-ply

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sand bags

sand bags

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