The barrier has been broken!

As i have said time and time again. Building a balloon to me is about 4 main barriers. These are making templates (Initiation of the project etc), cutting fabric, sewing fabric and all the finishing jobs to get it ready for inflation. As many of you know i have gotten hung up on the sewing part for a while now until just recently.

Towards the end of last week i sat down at the machine and played around a little bit. Managed to do a couple of seams which turned out well. Got the machine running right so i was a happy camper. With i guess ballooning firing in my gut recently i have more drive than ever before because its finally coming together. I guess you could say i see the light at the end of the tunnel and sadly for me the only thing stopping me is some hard work!

So after a couple hours of thinking it over i finally sat down at the machine and started sewing the balloon. The folder is annoying at first but once you start a panel it is an amazing tool for the novice sewer.

Actually, talking of sewing a balloon isn't sewn it is more like "industrial bonded". The reason for this is with sewing its all about beauty and it being tidy. On the slip side you have industrial bonding which is all about strength and if its tidy i guess that's a bonus. Luckily for us balloons are massive and even the professionally built balloons are filled with minor "blemishes". 

Over the years i have come to realize balloons are over engineered as i guess with all aircraft any anything you want to last for a significant amount of time. I guess things built in the 1950's are a testament to things being over engineered or built well. With that being said i have changed my mindset on how my balloon is built, Not to say it is unsafe or a weak balloon its just within parameters of tolerance and minor "blemishes" should don't affect strength.

So anyway on to what i have done over the last little while. I have managed to put together all panels A-B and halfway through B-C as of today. The machine has had some minor issues but have managed to work out most of the issues. I hope by the end i will still consider building another balloon because the next one will be super easy compared to the wealth of knowledge i have gained so far!