Chapter 6 - Fuselage bottom - Part 2

After finally just resigning to the fact that this next step was going to make a big mess, I got to work and finished contouring the fuselage bottom. It did indeed throw blue bits everywhere
(not unlike a Unicef advertisement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MAYrF1PDks)

I made a small mistake at the back seat area. I started to contour all the way to where the triangular longeron is to be bonded. I then realized this area should be left alone because the rear consoles would be located in that area. The damage was minimal and I should be able to fill it in after the consoles are installed. Measure twice, cut once!!!!




















I used an angle grinder with a heavy duty sanding disk for the majority of the work. This worked quite well. It cut through the foam like butter. It also made good work of my left index finger taking the skin off the the knuckle nearly down to the bone. I used a pair of work gloves my father sent me for X-mas after that little incident, thanks Dad. I also picked up a first aid kit when I was at the hardware store. I found that I only had a couple of little Sponge Bob bandages in the house.

After contouring the bottom I place it upside down on the fuselage as instructed in the plans.

I used 2 8' 1x4 peices of lumber cut to 7' with the 1' scraps used as shims to jig the bottom to the fuselage curve. The lumber was then bonded to the foam with small dabs of bondo to ensure the peice holds its curve for glassing.

Chapter 6 - Fuselage bottom - Part 1

I have started to contour the fuselage bottom, however my workshop is getting far to cluttered. I will need to stop for a little bit and regroup, clean and make sure my shop is ready for this step as it will generate a good deal of foam bits everywhere.

This is by far the worst shape my shop has been in since I was well into my Kayak project and I do not feel comfortable working on an aircraft project with this much clutter. Compare these photos to the first few when I started.

Chapter 6 - Fuselage assembly - Part 2

I have finaly finished assembing the fueslage sides and the bulkheads. I did not take many photos as they pretty much look the same as the last chapter 6 photos posted.

If I were to do this again I would have built a smaller shorter level work stand for the fuselage. Six hours of standing on my workbench and hunching over to tape all of the bulkhead joints was not my idea of fun. It was long, but not EZ if you get my drift.

Anyhow its done, now onto the fuse bottom. Any words of wisdom before I start to cut foam for the bottom are welcome.

Airspeed indicator

It's probably a little to early to be thinking, let alone purchasing, insturments, but when a good deal comes along, one should take it. I picked this up on ebay a couple of weeks ago. The seller said it came out of his Long-EZ due to an upgrade. I am considering a Dynon EFIS, but a couple of pitot static backup gauges if there are room probably would not be bad. Anyhow I picked it up for under $60. The same item sells for over $400 from Aircraft spruce.

I performed a crude test with a tube out side the car window and it seems to be working fine.

Landing gear brackets - Part 3

I have finally finished the landing gear bracket installation. Below you can see picture of the proccess I used to install the 15 ply reinforcements and the landing gear brackets. The plans call for 15 ply bid fiberglass to be layed up directly to the bracket install locations. I used a tip provided by a Canard Zone contributer to first lay up the 15 plys and then cut them to shape and flox them in place. This made for a neat clean layup of the reenforcement areas.