As I look closer at the pile of goodies that I'd acquired I have to admire and also shake my head at some of the pieces that were built for this plane. It was originally intended to be a club type trainer that they were going to mass produce. That idea fell through for many reasons. As I look at the machined components of this plane, I wonder who was the instigator of all this machining. Was it Dalotel, the designer of the aircraft? Or was it the company he had worked with to build the plane? It is obvious that someone highly skilled at machining was involved in the build of the plane. To think that this machining was done over 50 years ago, long before CNC machining, boggles the mind. This amount of machining certainly wouldn't have permitted mass production of the aircraft. Or at the very least, the design would have to be changed quite a bit to simplify the manufacture and reduce costs. It would be interesting to learn what this plane actually cost to build back in the late 60's and compare it with other costs as reference.
Attached are some photos of the workmanship. The ailerons are actuated by means of a torque tube. The splined connector is part of a universal joint to connect the aileron to the torque tube. Why a universal joint? I have no idea. There's no need for that type of movement. There are 80 splines machined into the outside of the coupler. This would permit quite a bit of adjustability during rigging of the airplane. Unfortunately the matching piece with the inside splines is missing, and only one of these couplers survived the 40 years since the accident.
The ball slides into the fingers on the end of the aileron. When the coupler is cocked 90 degrees to the hinge line it allows the coupler to slide onto the ball. When straightened out such that the coupler is aligned with the hinge line, it's then in the orientation for normal use. In that orientation there is absolutely no play in the rotational movement of the assembly. The fingers rotate smoothly over the ball and everything is a work or art.
Another piece of beautiful machine work is this extra fuselage subframe. This is one of the pair of subframe plates that the spars bolt into. More info on that to come.