Keil Kraft Senator

In early 2010 I discovered online the Keil Kraft Senator, and eagerly read through the various threads on building and flying. Not being able to find the plans online, Jim Moseley was kind enough to send me a copy from Canada at his own expense. That was almost precisely five years ago. I'm not exactly sure what happened but little to no progress was made for several years. I had the plans out periodically but for various reasons never made a lot of progress.

Forward to late 2014 and a renewed plunge into Free Flight building with a goal to competing at the NATS in July of 2015. While not intended for that event in particular, I decided it was past time for the Senator to get built. I set all other projects aside and focused on accomplishing something each day, no matter how small. Ribs were cut, propeller blank assembled, and hardware gathered. Before too long the fuselage, wing, and tail sub assemblies came together and were prepared for covering with Esaki tissue. Thinned white glue (yellow actually) was used to adhere the tissue to the structure, which for the most part went well. The exception was the lower surface of the wing, being undercambered the tissue needs to be stuck to the length of each rib. This was a little frustrating until I got the hang of it and the last couple of panels were less of a struggle.

I'll post more build images in the future but the Senator is done and ready for test flights when time and weather permit. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the air.