I almost forgot to put the blind nuts in the cabane mounts. Kinda good though, because I was able to do something ahead of time that will probably save me some headache later. The plans call for you to drill a 9/64" hole in the fuse side through the cabane mount and install a blind nut BEFORE installing the cabanes........well, I can just imagine the crap you'd have to go through if the pre-drilled holes in the cabanes didn't line up with the holes in the fuse and the blind nuts. I was able to install the cabanes, drill through them and the cabane mounts, and THEN install the blind nut. This way, I won't have to try to wallow out a hole that has a blind nut in the back of it........

Also, got the firewall and F3 glued to one side of the fuselage. To keep things lined up and square, I partially assembled the fuse. The fuse top locks everything in place nice and square. When the epoxy is dried, I'll flip it and glue the opposite side.

As far as the rest of the fuse formers - it's gonna be a while before I can glue those on. I want a 4-Star 40 type canopy. I don't want the open cockpit. This means that I won't be using the glue-on headrest. Instead, I am going to build the rear of the fuse up a bit higher, and to do that I have to do some major brainstorming to figure out how to modify the formers. I want to make my own canopy with some plastic heated and draped over a mold. I've seen 2 liter bottles used before, but I want some shape to the top, rounded off. If you've ever seen a 4-Star canopy you know what I'm after.

Started on the hatch. Made copies of the fwd and aft former tops.



Then I put them up against the two former tops. Then ran the stringers through both.





My plan is to glue the stringers to the copied former tops, then cut the stringers between the former tops and the copied former tops......if that makes sense.

bkndsdi,

Coming along beautifully.

Zor

Thanks Zor.

I got the hatch built last night. I'll post pics after work. I am hoping the tank I ordered came in so I can get that out of the way.

Got the hatch built.





The cowl will go over the top of the hatch, but I don't see it being too bad. When I make the cowl, I'll see how much of a hindrance it will be and I can adjust the hatch if I have to.

I'll check on the tank tomorrow.

Got some more stuff.

Long couple of days at work, but I've managed to get a few things going.

First, I decided to do away with the typical headrest and cockpit in exchange for a more 4-Star like look. First thing I had to do was cut off and move up the headrest section of the fuse. I cut the top off of the F5 former, then made a spacer out of some of the scrap ply from the fuse cutouts; HINT - never throw anything away until you're done......



Here's the spacer, and the notch cut in the balsa former.

There is a lot of stock there, but doing this allows me to get the height where I want it. When I've got the correct height, I'll cut down most of the spacer.



Next, I cut the rest of the formers inbetween F5 and the last one. Reason for leaving the last former alone is that I want the last former to stay the same so I can make the transition to the rudder in pretty much the stock fashion. Then I taped them all in place, and strung a string from the aft former to the front former, and adjusted the heights of the middle formers. That way I can make a straight transition from the front to back. Here's what I came up with. It's hard to visualize it without the stringers.........

Got the new landing gear plate made, installed the tank floor, and got the triangle stock for the firewall glued in place.

Got more done.......

.......and some more........got the fuse former extensions glued on each former.



I then cut the centers of the extensions out so that I still had the same room inside. Next, I put them in place (not glued in yet) and cut the stringers. I like it, but it's hard to tell any change. I'll really see the difference once the canopy is made.

I've been busy at work.......so busy I've not had a lot of time with the hog. I managed to get some done these last few days, though.

I took two sheets of 1/16" x4 x 36" balsa and glued them together. Then, I drew some hot water in the tub, and put them in for about 2 hours. When I took them out, I patted them dry and draped them over the forward end of the fuse and the aft end. I then wrapped them with tape to hold them tight to the fuse. Then, I let them dry overnight and through the next day. When I came home today, I unwrapped the sheets, and they held their shape pretty darn well.

I took my time and slowly trimmed the section for the forward end. When I got pretty close, I used my Tbar to final sand the two sides. Once I got it to fit flush with the top of the fuse sides on both sides, I taped it to the fuse, and glued in between the tape. As the glue dried, I removed the tape and glued the remainder. Worked like a charm.

Here it is, trimmed up and waiting for the tape.



Taped up and glued on.



All done, minus sanding the front flush.

For the hatch, I laid the hatch frame inside the newly shaped sheeting and cut the sheeting 1/4" big all around. Then I wrapped the sheeting around the frame with tape. I had to use a bit of windex to keep the sides from cracking near the bottom of the hatch. As soon as it dried, I glued it to the frame. then I trimmed and sanded the sheeting flush. I will have to do some final adjustments on the sides to get the sheeting to fit with the fuse, but it'll be simple to fix.



Next is the aft section; this will take some careful trimming to get it to lay just right.