Chapter 13 - Nose and nose gear - Part 8

After I assembled the nose gear box, strut and wheel assembly, I test fitted the whole mess to the fuselage and discovered that the nose gear strut was too long. Of course it was, the strut is made long and I was supposed to trim it to the proper length. So I had to remove the castering nose wheel assembly from the strut. That was not super easy because it was bonded in place with flox. However a little careful coaxing and I managed to get it all apart.

Yesterday I finally got around to trimming the strut down and re-attaching the castering wheel assembly. Today I fitted the assembly to the fuselage and installed 2 ply bid glass to attach the assembly to the F-22 bulkhead, however only on the right side. After that layup cures I will move the long bar clamp to the other side and lay up 2 ply on the other side. Then I will extend the gear and lay up bid tape inside the assembly as well.

After that comes some decision making. Do I want an extended nose? Do I use the stock plan nose (which I think is kind of ugly). If I decide to have a longer nose, how long? hmm.....