I can't wait to see how your fuse turns out. It's looking GOOD so far...

Jack

Done a lot of planing and sanding to fuselage. Using mostly 150 grit paper to get it down. Shoulda gotten some 100 stuff. Having a little trouble getting a smooth transition at the side to nose junction. Shoulda used a little heavier wood on the nose cone, but had to use what was available, at the time. May have to add a little filler here, later. But she's looking a lot thinner and better. Was hoping to get the fuselage as slim looking as the glass original, looks like that's not going to be. She's gonna be the chubby sister to that good looking glass slipper.


Jack

Getting close to the finished look, will most likely trim it down a little more after joiner rod is installed and just before covering.

erich

Erich, I gotta say that I really enjoy following your build threads. I watched the Sagitta XC and will eventually get to it, but just reading through all your descriptions and flipping through the pictures is fun and encouraging. Every time I flip through your threads, I think "I gotta get back to building," hehe.

Thanks
Dan

If any of you have never done one of these, it's hard to know how much effort goes into these threads. I've done a few and I have to say that I truly appreciate Erich... Wood building will be around for a long time.

Jack Womack

Dan

No shortage of great planes, waiting to be built. Am planing to do my share of em. Here's to you, getting your share too.

Thanks for the words.

Jack: as Dan says: "Balsa dust, Rocks".
erich

i agree with "danstrider" very much also!!! erich your build threads are GREAT! i am in the middle of a Challenger build, and i look at your Challenger build photos almost as a manual... they have been so helpful! and i love watching ALL your build threads just to see ways other people do things, and learning new building techniques!

-you too jack!!! i have been studying yours and"solo6796"s build threads on the yardbird... i think i'm going to put the challenger on hold and forge on with the yardbird... all the ribs, carbon, and balsa are waiting for me to get home and start building!

so thanks again, erich for the GREAT build threads. keep em coming!!

matt

Time to glue in the aluminum joiner rod. Found the trick here, was to get the bend (in joiner rod) perfectly vertical. Only way I found, was to plug in wings, then pivot joiner till both wings were equal distance from fuselage, fore and aft. Did this with wings resting on top of alignment pin (which has not been glued in). Once all seemed right, clamped joiner to former and checked distance from top of fin to last rib / spar joint in each wing. Had to do a little sanding in one of the joiner holes to get the right alignment. When everything lined up, did some spot gluing with 5 min epoxy. After glue set up, removed wings, then added 30 min epoxy all around joiner and before glue set, boxed the bottom and rear of joiner in with some basswood. Made sure this box was then filled to top with epoxy and let cure.

Also drilled holes in former just beneath joiner and glued some spoiler tubes.

erich

Jack

Just spent the last couple of hours going over your Yardbird build. Don't understand how I missed seeing that build till now??? Now that's a fuselage. The rounded shape you got is what I had hoped for the HH fuselage. Was to shy in adding more wood to get there. Great to see how a pro does it. Beautiful bird. Thanks.

erich

Thanks for the kind words, Erich...

JW

Before assembling wings. Added the ply root ribs to main panels. Lot easier to do this with 3' wing sections then 6 footers. Wrapped fuselage with wax paper, used masking tape to hold in place. Used wooden wedges between root rib and 1st ply rib, to make sure root rib was tight against fuselage, added a little oil around joiner, then used 5 min epoxy to spot glue in place. When that set used 30 min epoxy mixed with lotsa cabosil to fill small void between root rib and first ply rib on wing panel. If you put the epoxy between root rib and fuselage, the plane will probably still fly, but covering it will be a little harder, not to mention transporting it. Quoting Jack, "don't ask me, how I know".

erich

To any and all H.Hawk flyers, what's a good safe towhook location? My thoughts are 1/4"+ forward of the CG.

erich

OK, you lost me - what did you just do?

Murph

Murph

You gotta be a little more specific.

erich

Yeah sorry....I read the text, looked at the picture, read the text again, looked at the picture and just didn't understand what "Added the ply root ribs to main panels" really did.

Murph

Murph,
Since I'm here now I'll try to answer your question. He put a plywood plate at the root of the wing. It is pressed against the fuse while gluing to provide the best possible fit. There is no glue between the plywood and the fuse, but spacers and filler-type glue between the plywood and the end of the wing.
Tim