Construction Details - Fuselage




The fuselage was brought home on a 16' flatbed trailer with the intent of taking it to the local airport and working on it there. My crew (that's Robin, 6, and Brian 9) and I unpacked it and decided to put it on the gear to facilitate loading and unloading at the airport.







After making sure that the gear legs were fully seated in their sockets (took a little gentle persuasion with a rubber mallet and a wood block held against the lower end of the legs), Robin helps position a tie-down strap to pull the legs together slightly in order to place the second tension cable bolt.







Brian cranks on the tiedown ratchet till the tension cable bolt slips easily into it's hole. After removing the straps, the cross wires are under tendion. The gear legs were then rotated to align the cables parallel to each other. Plucking each in turn like an instrument string gives an indication of the tension on the wire. Small adjustments of the leg rotation were made until the cables sounded the same 'note' then the sockets and legs were drilled and bolted.








The crew celebrates getting the fuselage on it's gear. It was about this time that we decided we were having too much fun to take the fuselage to the airport. We continued to work on the fuselage on the trailer tarping it after each day's work. Although you can't beat the view and the ventilation's great, this gets old pretty quickly (plus I needed my trailer...). At this point, the project is scattered all over the county. The wings are in my shop at work, and the fuselage is here at home. The engine and all the misc. parts waiting their turn are stored in a 1976 Airstream travel trailer (which is built like an airplane itself...) This decentralized approach has one advantage in that no matter where I am, if I have a few minutes I can make some progress on the plane. It really helps keep the project moving and helps me fit it into this modern busy life. Plus the kids can pop in and out of the project as their interest and attention span allows. If we were down at the airport, I bet they'd feel 'stuck' after a while and wind up bored and resentful. I'd encourage anyone contemplating building to think creatively about space options. Check out other list members sites; there are lots of ways to solve this problem.







Here's my temporary solution to the shelter problem. This tube and tarp 'hangar' was built of EMT (electrical conduit), plywood, and plastic tarps. Not elegant, (looks like Jed Clampett's building a Challenger....) but OK for now until we move into the house we're building which will have for-real shop space - first one I've ever had. Looking forward to that....








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