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Progress Report

The objective of this trip was to finalize the Vtwin firewall forward package, follow up on the panel circuit board, and prepare for the Sun n Fun show.

We are still optimizing the fuel system and believe we have the final positions for the pumps and regulator. Once those are mounted, we can finish with the cooling system, voltage regulator and solenoid mounting. We have those stuck in about their final positions now.

A few more mounting brackets and fuel line attach plugs are ordered and just arrived as I am heading back to the airport for my return to Florida. Colleague Ben will mock-up the new and likely final positions.

We have found a fabricator of aluminum racing radiators. They will soon be making a big batch of custom sized and spec’d radiators to match our cowl. They have the capability to mold silicone tubing and we have requested their offer. It would be a nice finalization to our cooling system to have perfectly curved tubes with minimal fittings.

At this point I would say the firewall forward BOM is 95% finished and the stocking bins are getting set up.

We have a few more cowls, engine mounts, and exhausts shipping from CZ this week so we will be able to show these parts at SNF. Here is our nearly finished BOM:

Here is the reduction drive inventory and installation parts per the BOM:

Bins will be stocked this month. We already have plenty of engines and reduction drives. Finally, we can begin shipping these packages. Meanwhile we are working on the Merlin with Vtwin POH and Vtwin installation manual. These items won’t take long as the POH is just a revision, and we are making the engine installation as simple as possible.

And now embroidered and finished Merlin Temperfoam seats in stock.

In Merlin Lite news the first airframes are now finished and in the paint booth. The plan is to get one flying before SNF so I can show video. Fingers crossed.

We are going ahead with Plan B for the SNF show and will create a ‘museum style’ display of several of the AFRL projects Aeromarine has been participating in over the last few years. Most of this will be on public display for the first time. I think it will be interesting. Actually, I know it will be interesting and I doubt you will see more high-tech ideas in any other booth in any other show. That’s a big claim so I refine it to any other light aircraft show like SNF.

Expect to see DEPOD, RAES, DART, Hyper-STOL, amphibious Hyper-STOL, electric Z-50, and a new VSTOL design. We like our acronyms. And most of this will be on our video monitor as well. I even have a novel way of powering the computer and big screen TV in our non-electric booth in Paradise City.

Here is our R&D Merlin that was used in some of these programs moving from our Dayton R&D shop to our hangar. We will prepare it for our DART program when we get this current work behind us.

I received a text from a Merlin Lite customer pointing out that it has been a year since I accepted his order and other orders at SNF and have yet to deliver a Merlin Lite. No chit. I know. And it will be a topic of discussion at the show I am sure. But I have addressed this in my blogs and will repeat: Yes, I underestimated the project. And we have half the normal staff to manufacture aircraft. And I wanted the best possible product so I made 20+ changes to the prototype which basically results in nearly a new aircraft so the engineering hours totaled thousands instead of hundreds.

I accept all responsibility of course. I also made the deposits small and refundable and secured those funds and promptly refunded 100% usually within hours of any request. I did twice offer a deposit refund to this customer but he remains on board.

We are offering the worlds’ best line E-AB and Part 103 aircraft in the Merlin and Merlin Lite. No short cuts, nothing inferior. And I trust worth the wait. That is the bottom line.

CHIP