Chapter 5
Fuselage SidesClick on the pictures for a larger image.
I started on this chapter on 07/18/09. The materials are ordered and are shipped from Aircraft Spruce and Specialty for this chapter and will be on the barge in a week for their final leg of their trip here. I picked up the order from the barge company on 7-28-09.
I started this chapter by cutting the lumber to build the fixtures needed to make the jigs needed for this chapter. I made the templates for the fuselage sides out of 1/8" hard board as indicated in the plans. I made the jigs for the longerons from pine boards. Below is a picture of the longerons jig fastened to my work bench ready to be used. I used clear box tape on the work bench to keep the longerons from being glued to the bench.
Next I built the longerons, the stiffeners and two sizes of doublers. All of these parts were made of Aircraft Sitka Spruce. I started out laminating three 1" x 1/4" x 105" pieces together with epoxy and before the epoxy set up I held the laminated pieces against the fixtures with nails. The next night after the epoxy set up, I took the stiffener and the doublers and floxed (mixture of epoxy and cotton) them to the longerons as directed by the plans. Below are some pictures of the longerons, stiffeners, and doublers in place and weighted down by a couple of bent boat props. The longerons wanted to raise a little at that point.
Below is a picture of the longerons completed and removed from the fixtures.
Below is a picture of the epoxy being applied to the fiberglass on the sides of the fuselage. I first cut the foam to fit the jigs and then glued the foam with 5 minute epoxy to the jigs. Next I pre cut all the fiberglass needed for the lay ups and number them so that I will know where they go. I aligned the fiber orientation as the plans said and applied the epoxy. It took many batches of epoxy for this lay up. Thank god for the sticky stuff pump! I then applied the second layer of fiberglass running the fibers at a 30 degree angle in the opposite direction.
Next I built up the landing gear area with the required reinforcing and made the cut out for the main spar. I then broke the sides loose from the fixtures and sanded the fuselage sides and caused a white out in the garage. Next I test fitted and sanded the bulkheads to fit. It didn't take much sanding, They fit quite well before sanding.
Below is a picture of the completed fuselage sides. This chapter was completed on 08/31/09. I am now ready for Chapter 6.
This completes Chapter 5.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to email me @ Jfisher59@gci.net