The Lancair booth included an exhibit of the new space age structural materials.

As a reminder of what traditional aircraft construction has been for years, we include this picture of the fuselage of riveted sheet-metal plane.

The pre-impregnated epoxy composition materials were developed under the auspices of NASA's Agate Program. They take full advantage of the composite construction by reducing part count and secondary bonds.

Seeing the thinness of the materials leaves us amazed.

The strength reinforcment comes from the preimpreganated hexagonal honeycomb structured material. The planes are constructed by shaping the pliable "wet" fabric over forms which then hardens when it "dries".

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