Big Picture Planning

[Battson]

In terms of working with aircraft grade ALCLAD aluminium for the first time, I would suggest doing a little work on the boot cowl metal before getting stuck into the metalwork on the wings.

The alloy in the wings is decidedly structural. Mistakes are unacceptable and have to be corrected, which can be a big difficult job. The boot cowl uses smaller pieces of aluminium and they are non-structural and oversize, so they are the best place to learn new skills. Any serious mistakes can easily be repaired or replaced without drilling whole sheets off the wing structure.

[AKKen07]

Eric Newton’s manual made it sound like the wings are the logical place to start. But that’s an interesting point. I have and will take again a sheet metal class before starting, but if the wings take more than level 1 easy skills maybe I’ll wait.

[Bcone1381]

I got a Patrol quick build kit about 18 month ago. I started with the fuselage, and am happy with that decision. When the kit came, I made a wing storage device (I used these plans from the EAA. goo.gl/sGZWwL) that is mounted on wheels. I attached the flaps and ailerons to the wall with big loops of old carpet. Don't store this stuff were mice can gain access.