We finished the initial assembly of both the forward and aft Central Mounting Modules. In this photo you can see the last end of the last module being clamped together while the glue sets. The filler putty that the plates are bed in tends to slowly ooze down and out of the vertical joints. The putty is a mix of epoxy, cabosil, and microballoons. More cabosil or microballoons would reduce the flow, but I found it easy enough to just babysit the assembly until the epoxy kicks. I will add more putty to form fillets in all of the corners after the initial glue cures. The CMMs are rather fragile with just thin lines of glue, but the fillets and glass tape will make them strong and capable of distributing the large forces applied by the beams.
Here is the first CMM I assembled in the correct orientation. The wood beam pads will be mounted on either side of the slot at the top corners. The "upper folding strut"will be bolted into the slot as part of the mechanism that supports the beams. You may notice the scribbles all over the CMM. These are marks to remind me that these areas still have peel-ply so I don't try to install the CMMs with the peel-ply still on. I have been removing strips of peel-ply as I assemble the various components of the CMMs. I am trying to keep the peel-ply on as long as possible so the surfaces are clean when installed into the main hull.
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