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Here's a shot of the fuselage side jigs once the masonite
has been mounted to the jigs you make in earlier steps. I made some 7/8" spaces
from the leftover wood and mounted them on little plywood stands so they stood up beyond
the jigs for later steps. |
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Rather than using the 5-minute epoxy specified in the plans,
I used double-sided tape to hold the foam to the forms. When the foam came off, it
only stuck where the fuel gauges were because some epoxy from the layup leaked through and
on the edges where the epoxy dripped down during the layup. I didn't have any foam
stick to the jigs in the middle of the foam. |
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First I'd like to say the saw is not on and James, my son,
doesn't stand here while I use the saw, especially without any safety glasses! I
have simply mocked up, for the camera, how I cut the foam to width for various parts with
my ripping attachment. While many of you avid craftsman out there are wondering why
I'd include a picture with such a simple concept - I just couldn't bear to not post this
picture of James with that silly grin on his face! |
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I have a tilting head bandsaw which I used to cut the foam
doublers for the fuselage sides. The ripping attachment gets clamped at the right
distance from the blade. Then, by changing the angle of the blade I was able to cut
the foam exactly to shape, consistently. While I do enjoy sanding the foam like the
rest of you, there's no substitute for clean, even cuts when you assemble the foam and
then 'glass over it. I did not exactly follow
the plans for the next couple steps. I cut all the foam spacers but didn't micro
them to the 3/8" foam until I had routed and finished all of the depressions (for
flight controls and fuel sight gauges) so I could get at both sides of the foam and flip
it over. I also didn't mount the foam to the jigs until all the depressions were
routed and sanded and all the spacers were cut, fit together and sanded. |
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Rather than use nails to hold the foam spacers on top of the
3/8" foam, I made small pieces of plywood, covered them with packing tape and used
clamps. I also glued the strips, if you will, together and to the larger piece at
the back before microing to foam below. I think this made the second step easier
because you didn't have to worry about the foams spacer joints in addition to the
placement of the foam spacers on the foam below. It took a bunch of clamps but
worked fine. |
| Click
here for Contouring the Insides |
