Today was another great building session and things are really starting to come together. Dare I say it, its the first day it’s really starting to look like a plane!
Taking the weights and supports off from last building session we see that the formers are now attached to the one side.
Worked on the elevators some more today. We angled the leading edge and sanded it. Doing it enough to give us approximately the range of motion our elevators will need. Once we get closer to finishing them we’ll ensure theirs enough movement as specified, I believe it’s an inch of throw. I marked the centre of the trailing edge for both and then Peter and I both rounded one of them. I then sanded the metal wire before we mixed glue and then glued the wire in to place (after ensuring its fit and be recessed below the leading edges.
After that we laid wax paper and folded it over the stabilizer. We placed pins around to ensure it couldn’t move on us along with some other things, as seen in the pick below, and then clamped the things so the elevators stay snugged up to the trailing edge of the stabilizer while the glue dries.
As seen in the pic above we placed a piece of wood between the wire and stabilizer to ensure it remains snug and doesn’t rise above the edge of the elevators as it should be recessed.
The last task for the day was to attach the left side of the fuselage to the formers. This turned out to be a tricky task. We startedwih a dry fit and discovered the firewall did not want to fit so Peter did a little sanding of the two ‘tabs’. We mixed glue similar to last time and applied it to the edges of the formers. We then lined of the side of the fuselage and fitted it into place. This side was stubborn and you could see it taking on the desired curged shape.
While we were wrapping up for the night Peter asked what colour I’d like to make the aircraft. I’m not sure yet and we might go take a look at Johns sometime. Right now I’m leaning towards yellow on orange. I digress as we’re not their yet!
After the side track we went back into the shop to check things and realized a couple things. First off the firewall wasn’t staying together properly and we missed the bottom clamp (yes I know that’s technically the top of the plane as it’s resting upside down). We rejigged some of our clamps, applied a little more glue in places, and added the missing clamp before being satisfied to call it a night.