Well I finally got my courage up to glue the tail. Like all things it was not too bad once I set my mind to it. I had visions of banana shapes going through my head for days. I tackled this task a little differently than Scottie did. I didn't really have the patience to build a jig to keep things straight but straight is key to a fuselage. So after some thought I skinned this cat the following way. I placed the fuselage on its side, glued up the formers and sides but left the tail unglued. After the front of the fuselage was square and dry, I used the wing rods and a square to make certain things lined up correctly, I set about gluing the tail. To do this I built a platform on the building board that the tail could rest on that would make it perfectly inline with the rest of the fuselage. This was actually very easy to do. Then I set the bellcrank in place and glued the fin together, again using the tail joiner rods to make sure the two sides were aligned correctly.

It worked very nicely. Now I am going to use the same platform setup to lay the fuselage on while I apply the bottom sheeting. This way the fuselage will be straight and untwisted. I should get a little more work done this weekend and I will post updates as I go. Here are a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Wayne

Hi Wayne,

Good job buddy. I'm taking the summer off from building. Summer got here a month late, and now it's crunch time in the garden.

Bob in Seattle

Hi Scottie

Did you get your wings with the sign man's magic on them?

G Don

Haven,t been able to get over there as I've been working from 7am till 8or9 at night this week maybe.

You too Scottie!?

I still havent had time to go get the wings,my guy's shop used to be about 3 blocks away but high rent forced him to move a 1/2 hours ride from here.I called him yesterday and he said he's got a job here in town in a couple of weeks and will bring the wings with him.This is most likely the best answer because every time I go to his place we end up drinking too much beer and the wife yells at me when I get home.

Hi Guys,

It's raining here and 60. No flying for me.

Bob in Seattle

Hi Guys,

New day here, but it's still 60 and raining . Oh well.

Bob in Seattle

I have been continuing to work on the fuselage. I spent a fair amount of time getting the 1/4 inch sheet on the forward, bottom section of the fuselage. The fuselage doesn't look too curvy until you try to attach some 1/4 inch sheet too it. Boiling water, clamps and time were what it took to get it on there. I have also attached the nose block and the top sheeting forward of the hatch area.

I was very proud of myself. I did the initial rough shaping of the nose and then started to get ready to put on the remaining bottom sheeting, ohh but what did I see.... a fuselage that was not straight. Somehow when I was attaching and clamping the bottom sheeting I got something out of alignment. No amount of persuasion was enough to get the fuselage lined back up. So out came the knife, off came the bottom sheeting and I will try it again. This time I am not going to try to do it in one piece, but will instead sheet it in pieces placed on the fuselage at 90 degrees. The sheet material is naturally more forgiving in that orientation anyway when it comes to following the curves.

I will report back when I get the new bottom sheeting on.

Wayne

I used blocks of wood and some bits of 2x4 about 3 foot long and precurved the bottom sheet by clamping between the 2/4s,with the bitts of blocks for shims to set the curve close.The 1/4 sheet was rather hard stock and was soaked with cheap window cleaner to get it to bend.The end result worked out fine and was easyer to sand than all the glue seams you get with cross wise planking.With the prebent shet all I needed to hold it down to the sides was masking tape.the sides are straight from the rear of the wing to the nose block in the top view,so a 1/4" shim was used that was cut to the bottom curve.The bottom sheet was glued and taped in place, the fuse was then placed on the shim and clapmed to the bench near the edge to hold it straight.With the one piece bottom in place the fuse is stiff as a baseball bat!

I forgot the top sheet needs the same treatment over the top of the wing area as well because of the curve there.scottie

Hello everyone,

I got around to redoing the 1/4 inch sheeting on the fuselage bottom. This time it went much better. I put the pieces on in the standard cross sheet manor and it went as well as could be expected. Next will be the back half of the bottom. I am puttering along, this way I don't get stressed out by the build. Nothing really photo worthy but I thought I would send along a picture of the fuse as seen by my laser level. Looks straight enough for me.

Wayne

Hi Scottie

My PC flamed out for 2 wk's so just getting back up to speed, did you ever get your tricked out wings from the sign shop ?

G Don

My guy is suposed to be bringing them when he comes to town for a job,soon I hope.Still working long hours and six days a week and I just don't have the shuputz to take the drive out to his place when I finish work.

Originally Posted by Windependence

Hello everyone,

I got around to redoing the 1/4 inch sheeting on the fuselage bottom. This time it went much better. I put the pieces on in the standard cross sheet manor and it went as well as could be expected. Next will be the back half of the bottom. I am puttering along, this way I don't get stressed out by the build. Nothing really photo worthy but I thought I would send along a picture of the fuse as seen by my laser level. Looks straight enough for me.

Wayne

I'm surprised that you are having trouble bending the top and bottom sheeting, maybe you are using too hard balsa? I never had an issue on the original.
The grain is lengthwise because it is a whole lot easier to shape to a nice even contour. If you put it crosswise, I can't see you getting such a smooth result.
There is always the option of doing it in two laminations of 1/8" sheet.

Mike