Box Assembly

Step 4 Installation of the Box Assembly on the Fuselage

The last layup I did onto the sides of the NG-30s had some pretty bad bubbles around the plywood and aluminum reinforcements. So, using a heat gun and a chisel, I stripped it back off and did it over..

Like several other builders, I assembled F-0 and F-5 onto my NG-30s on the workbench. This is out of order from the plans but it seems to be a bit easier and easier to get things straight and square.

Here's F-0 being test fitted with nails holding it in place. As I often do, I made a scan of the plans F-0 drawing and used that to help ensure correct alignment. It's spray-glued to the front of F-0. I ended up not using the nails, however, see below.

Locating F-5 with nails before permanently attaching it.

Here's F-0, glassed on both sides per plan, ready for the NG-30s to be placed on it. Can't use nails this way! You'd have to put them through the table! Note - there is plastic on the table to keep the layup on the back side flat and from sticking to the table.

Adding flox to the inside of F-0 with a zip top bag. You can see the lines I drew in pencil on the F-0 foam (while it was nailed to the NG-302) to locate F-0 properly once the layups and flox were applied.

Ditto for F-5. I ended up removing this flox and adding F-5 in a later step. I guess you could have done this in all one step, but, I realized my F-5 was a bit too small. So I decided to add that in a later step.

Here's the NG-30s after a flox fillet and the BID tapes were added. I had to clamp the top of the NG-30s, somehow the bolt holding the pieces at the right spacing was causing a bit of a warp, the top corner were spreading.

After the previous layup cured, I trimmed the tapes and made a new F-5. This shot shows me scraping the flox that oozed out the sides.

A little girl stopped by and helped me put on the peel ply after the layup was complete. She has a mask and gloves but seems to have forgotten her safety glasses....

Let it cure and we're ready to add this assembly to the front of F-22.

If you have not heard this tip already, make the center of F-22 a bit wider. My box assembly ended up about 1/2" total (outside of NG-30 to outside of NG-30) more narrow than the width of the center piece of my F-22. It worked out ok because that 1/4" per side I filled with a small foam piece that had been sanded to a curve. That then made a nice radius for the tapes on the outside of the NG-30s.

Also note my nose lift attachment method. I had a couple holes in F-22 leftover from my rotisserie. I added a screw to one and some copper wire and had a secure way of holding the NG-30s to F-22. Even better, I could adjust the screw in and out for to level the box assembly once it was floxed on.

Adding flox with a zip top bag. You did remember to sand the inside and outside edges of the NG-30s before you assembled this, right?

Here's a shot of the box assembly mounted onto the fuselage. I used a 2x4 clamped to F-0 for support. I also clamped some wood pieces along the bottom of the fuselage to keep the assembly from sliding down on the inboard end. The small level was used to check the assembly level side to side.

After the flox cured, I did the BID tapes. You can see the tapes in this shot, also, the screw I used to hold the assembly onto the front of F-22. This wasn't hard, but, a bit awkward because there's not much space in there. If you haven't stated doing your tapes on waxed paper or plastic, this is a great time to do it. Makes taping way easier in tight spaces like this.

Same step but viewed from the bottom. I still have the wood pieces clamped to the bottom of the fuselage.

Now, let that layup cure and it's time to try out that electric nose lift I bought. Don't worry, Nat, I won't sit in the plane or put any weight on the newly added box assembly...

Then, we install the Wilhelmson nose lift assembly, hook a small 12v battery up and run the gear out and back in a couple of times!

Click on the picture to see the video.

Click on this picture to see the gear go back up.

Sure, you're probably thinking we're weird for taking videos of this sort of thing. Well, all we can say to you is - phooey! We have fun shooting these videos - and it keeps us building!

That completes Step 4. Click here for Step 5.