>>Now to the assertion that a manual typewriter was seen while visiting >>Schleicher six years ago. Fact is that Schleicher made the switch to modern communication systems well over 25 years ago.
I saw the typewriter at Poppenhausen with my own eyes! Maybe they were writing stuff up in old TNs or manuals but whatever, it was a manual typewriter. I don't think it was even a golf ball! Boat builders around the world, mast makers and all sorts of other even smaller fabricators have moved beyond wet layup to high temp pre-preg resins. I'm not sure what process was used to build the PIK 20 but it was certainly not a low temp resin because they painted it. Sparrowhawks are not low temp resins. While the composites world has moved on, German glider manufacturers have not. This is not misinformation, it's a fact. A local composites company refused to do repair work on gliders because, according to them, the build technology was rubbish. I can forward the name of the company if you want and you can get them to tell you how modern composite products are fabricated. In 1995, Britain had the biggest motorcycle industry in the world. By 1975, it was over. An industry which rests on its laurels, maintaining it's the best in the world, is the one most at risk for a change which could be terminal. >>when 8 (eight) different models are produced concurrently it is almost >>impossible to further automate the process. Of course it's not impossible! One of the reasons that Bavaria yachts has done so well is that it has highly automated a previously manual production process (on an old BMW production line) to the point that it can produce reasonable quality boats at a remarkably low price. And there are dozens of models. >>Well, we should all be wary of making statements only designed to make us appear experts in the field when we are clearly missing the necessary in-depth knowledge and expertise. Yeah, yeah, yeah but…… I remember reading an advertorial you wrote last year where you side stepped the past problems of print-through and visible spars. Don't glider buyers deserve better than this? I am not an owner of a JS glider but they have amply demonstrated that there is an alternative. Beware! D _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.base64.com.au http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring
