The next few posts will show very little progress as I am working my way piece by piece from F2 forward to F1 one section at a time. Tonight I squared the section where the seat back joins the seat bottom and then glued in the strut that joins the two sides at this point on the bottom of the fuselage.
Number of hours: 0.3
Total hours: 88.6
I spent some time tonight cutting the fuselage cross members and getting things lined up. The sides still need to be squared up.
Number of hours: 1.5
Total hours: 88.3
I picked up the KT100 today. It needs to be rebuilt and some new parts plus I will need to fabricate a prop hub. It sounds like a lot of work to do but I believe that it will bring me in well below the cost of other options.
Number of hours: 4.0
Total hours: 86.8
My dad came over last night and I got to show off a little bit. When I picked up the freshly cured tab facing spar I noticed that I hadn't got the plywood all the way flat in one area. I had read about using a heat gun to soften the epoxy but hadn't tried it until today. I removed the piece of plywood and then glued the spruce together that had separated due to the heat. I spent some more time tidying up my work area and planning the fuselage assembly jigs.
Number of hours: 1.2
Total hours: 82.8
I cut the shear webs for the aft faces of the tab spar and the tab facing spar and glued them in place. I realized that I forgot to varnish the interior of the tab spar as I added the webs so I covered all the interior surfaces with a healthy coat of epoxy before I closed it up.
Number of hours: 1.7
Total hours: 81.6
I finally got in contact with the seller of the KT100 and we are working out details for the transaction.
Aircraft Spruce said it will be 2 weeks before they can ship my next order of spruce so the fuselage will be on hold for a bit longer. I have a confession to make, I don't enjoy building spars using 1.5mm plywood for the sheer webs. It's more difficult to get a perfect cut through all the plys. I will soldier on, probably starting to build the winglet and rudder spars next. Nothing was built today because I have been playing Mr. Mom while my wife is in the hospital recovering from surgery. I am too beat to build after chasing those 2 around all night solo.
I found a Yamaha KT100 from an old Quicksilver on Craigslist today. Hopefully I will be able to get it! I placed an order with Aircraft Spruce for some more T-88 and the wood needed to join the fuselage sides plus the missing pieces from my first order. I pulled staples and sanded the tab spar tonight. Then I pulled the tab facing spar out of the jigs on the table. I had put packing tape down first on the table and this is by far my favorite method.
Number of hours: 0.7
Total hours: 79.9
I snuck downstairs for another half hour tonight to cut the spruce for the main spar. I cut what I could but I am missing some wood from my order and I need it to complete the two mounting blocks in the spar.
Number of hours: 0.5
Total hours: 79.2
I was out of town on business for a couple of days so the plane got a little lonely. I got back down to work for a little today and glued the plywood on the tab spar and glued the tab facing spar pieces together. My very kind brother dropped off the main wing spar to F2 fittings that he machined for me (they were too big for my mill) today too.
Number of hours: 0.8
Total hours: 78.7
I didn't get much done on the plane today as it was a pool closing / spa opening day. I cut the plywood for the anti-tab spar and cut the spruce pieces for the tab facing spar; no epoxy was mixed today.
Number of hours: 1.2
Total hours: 77.9
Building has continued over the past couple of days and I completed the left side. I spent the usual time pulling staples and then trimmed the excess plywood from a couple of areas. Since the sides were done I removed the fuselage building jigs from the table and the blobs of cured epoxy.
The first spar that I decided to build is the anti-tab spar because it is the smallest and most simple of the 11 spars that will be built. You might ask "What the heck is an anti-tab?" An anti-tab, anti-servo tab, or anti-balance tab is a control surface that is at the rear of another control surface and moves in the same direction as the control surface to add more control effort to the movement of the primary control surface and can act as a trim device also. So when the canard trailing edge is lowered, the anti-tab also lowers but at a greater angle. Clear as mud and twice as thick? I got the 8mm square pieces cut and glued tonight. Tomorrow I hope to add the plywood sheer webs to the spar to finish it up. The plans call for 1.2mm birch ply but I will be using 1.5mm because the former is not available.
Number of hours: 3.5
Total hours: 76.7
I glued in the canard control tube reinforcement, pitch trim reinforcement, and aft fuselage gussets today. I spent 40 minutes on the phone with Jim at J-Bird discussing various engine options. He is of the opinion that a direct drive Kawasaki 340cc 32hp engine will be a good option if some machining is done to lighten things up.
Number of hours: 1.2
Total hours: 73.2
I pulled the staples out of the right side yesterday and spent a little bit of time picking things up in the workshop.
I cut all the longerons and intercoastals (not sure if that is the correct term for the vertical pieces of spruce in the sides) then glued them in place tonight. I machined the slot in the reinforcement block that is the mounting point for the trim tab control at work today.
Hopefully I can get the gussets and other reinforcement blocks cut and glued tomorrow. No pictures today as it looks the same as the other side.
Number of hours: 1.7
Total hours: 72.0
I decided to glue the gussets on the frame making it the right side. I found that I missed another block of wood from my take offs for the landing gear reinforcements. I think that I had left it off figuring that I would have to measure the frames once built to get the correct size as this is a confusing area of the plans. I found an odd build up in the section view for the engine mount block area of the tail. This area appears to have multiple thicknesses of plywood in a stack but I'm not sure.
Number of hours: 1.6
Total hours: 70.3
I spent some miscellaneous time today cleaning up F2 and added notches for the longeron interfaces on 1 side. I added notes to F2 and F3 to aid in cutting the angles into the side faces. For fun, I set the bulkheads on the fuselage in their approximate locations; I was surprised at how big things really end up.
I cut 22 fuselage gussets from the 0.8mm plywood scraps that were lying around and then cut the seat gusset and control reinforcement gusset. I corrected the rear aft upper longeron as I hadn't extended it all the way up to the seat back and I glued in the reinforcement block for the canard control tube.
Number of hours: 3.5
Total hours: 68.7
I cleaned up a little bit today after pulling staples out of F2. I hate staples, need to find a better solution.
I cut the pieces for side 1 of the fuselage and glued it together. There was some extra epoxy left over so I made the scarf joint for side 2.
Number of hours: 3.2
Total hours: 65.2
I spent some time today cutting pieces for F1 and cleaning off excess epoxy. I have to put F1 construction on hold because I am short 1' of 12mm X 20mm and 3' of 8mm X 20mm. I glued together what I could on F1 and closed up F2. I am going to tidy up a little tomorrow and then start on the fuselage sides, which I have been dreading because the first step is a scarf joint and then steaming the longerons. My steaming set up needs lots of work as it didn't work on my landing gear.
The J-Bird catalog showed up today so I have spent some time drooling over that.
Sorry, no pictures today.
Number of hours: 1.5
Total hours: 60.7
I put two coats of varnish on what will be the interior of F2 tonight and cut the pieces for F1 in between coats. I occupied more time trying to calculate the brace locations / angles for the masts to no avail. The masts are supposed to be made in conjunction with F1 but I chose not to order the spruce for them as the cost is $75 for these 4 pieces of wood. I will lay it out in CAD tomorrow so I can get the correct angles. I finished my night by gluing the portions of F1 that are not in question.
Number of hours: 2.2
Total hours: 58.9
I pulled the staples out of F3 and cleaned it up for now and then moved on to F2. I cleaned up the excess epoxy squeeze out and the cut the facings and gussets out of 1.5mm birch ply. The thicker plywood is more difficult to cut but a utility knife is still the tool of choice. Finally I mixed up a big batch of T-88 and attached the facing and gussets to one side (still using zip ties for staple strips). I removed the staples after waiting for a few hours although it was probably a little on the early side so I installed a few more where needed.
I requested a catalog from J-Bird today, I figure it's worth seeing what they have available.
Number of hours: 2.6
Total hours: 56.7
