Fuselage Fun

Build a bunch of parts today on the fuselage. Much of the work is the same as before. Oh, Rob did help me builds a couple small spring mounts on Sunday. Thanks Rob!

The big stuff today was the skins and longerons.

The skins were big, like 7’ long, left and right hand side. They required some bending and 4” holes. The bending was fun. It was the first time I used the bending break. 8° was called for. But as you can see in the image, it’s a process to get the bending break setup. And how do you know when it’s bent at 8°? Using a protractor wasn’t gonna do me lots of good. So I pulled out some high school trig, and SOHCOHTOA’d the answer. Just had to measure when the edge was lifted 2.5mm. Easy.

Drilling the holes… I used the circle cutting drill bit. It’s got a drill bill in the center, and a swing arm with a blade. This is a scary devise. With some caution and patience, I got the holes drilled.

The longerons are supports that run the length of the fuselage. In essence they’re just 7’ long angle aluminum. But the ends called for some subtle angled cuts that took some time.

Other required fuselage parts are on back order, so I’ll be delayed on this endeavor as well. :(