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The top fuselage frames were welded up after coping, fitting, prep work (#30 holes for tube oil, deburr, polish), and tacking, and both are hanging over Carlo's garage benches.
IMG_0997.jpg
Carlo's hanger clean-up/wing work over the early part of the Labor Day weekend yielded a happy hanger mate (both RV and his Mustang II looking nicely free of spare airplane parts scattered underneath), a new bench, new vertical storage shelves which utilize more of the generously-sized full hanger, reduction of the horizontal filing system footprint, and some progress on getting his wings wired and all that detail work done.
IMG_0991.jpg
Both sets of landing gear were plumbed for brakes and the TE treatment was bonded on after priming. Worth noting is that - rather than form the TE ribs from sheet with the 20 ton press - Carlo decided to try welding the rib from .032 4130N flat stock with an aluminum heat sink... turned out well. We had decided to forgo the lower rib in favor of eliminating any catch-points for condensation and go with something closer to the current factory standard. The decision to avoid the second Adel clamp near the axle was based on Carlo's observation that bulkhead fittings are really happiest when installed in bulkheads, so the hard line down from the fuselage flex line to flex line to the brake goes bulkhead to bulkhead. Axles will wait until the fuselage is welded and on the fuse rotisserie for final alignment and tacking... there will be some grinding of primer to do, but the ability to tweak things supersedes a little extra weld prep work. BTW, we cut that axle relief with a mini-mill using a tilt table jig to set the required double-angle... have a shot, but have to fish it out of the camera. The step is not well-represented in this shot, but we went with some scrap streamline for the upper arm and round for the lower, with the actual streamline step and end-plate to be cut and welded after the aircraft is on its gear (along with the axles!).
IMG_1017.jpg IMG_1016.jpg IMG_1018.jpg
Sunday was consumed getting the modular table extended to 18' with a cantilevered add-on (the table system is built in 2' increments, with the current two 8' x 34" standard modules sufficient for upper fuse). We could have done a single 24" full table module, but the cantilever was easier to do and preserved some access for the foot pedal and torch connections. Once that work was done, Carlo worked late Sunday and Mon AM to get the lower longerons spliced and bent in the horizontal plane while I built up the standoffs for welding the back side of the lower frame while clamped to the table (the shock strut/front seat base frame needs clearance) and a few other wood and ply-based jigs.
IMG_1014.jpg IMG_0995 (1).jpg IMG_1006.jpg
The weekend also saw the reincarnation of the aileron leading edge skin bending jig discussed previously. The first version was disassembled and ply used for other projects, so when Carlo became a bit dissatisfied with the fit on one small section of his right aileron, I got a chance to do SkinBender 2.0, shrinking the footprint and reducing the materials requirement to a half sheet of 18mm ply and a single 2x4, as well as reducing the component count and improving ease of build. I will do an article on this second jig, as it really does make a perfect bend for the aileron a very quick thing.
With Carlo home on Tuesday and free from other responsibilities, I burned a day of vacation and we worked on the lower frame cutting/fitting/tacking job (which included some very good demos of repair techniques as I got used to the pulse feature on Carlo's SquareWave ... my Everlast has a flex head CK torch and very different pedal feel, so that's my excuse for those burn-throughs while tacking the thinnest wall stuff)... I did get better...slowly. By late afternoon, we had both lower frames ready to get the upper bend set between A and B, as well as start getting things welded up. BTW, Carlo borrowed a mini-mill for the coping, and that was a lovely tool to have to rough the ends, with cleanup done with the usual second cut carbide bit.
IMG_1001.jpg IMG_1013.jpg
My plan is to take the welded upper and lower frames back down to my shop, then give Carlo a hand completing his fuse while we still have warmer weather (no heat in his garage or hanger). The blocking and fixturing developed should be readily transportable as are the built tables. In the meantime, I need to re-convert my garage from what was a 1992-vintage show office for a then-new former cow pasture community to a heated and air-conditioned space with the old 10' x 10' manager's office ripped out along with the wall-to-wall carpet. That should take me into October, which will get Carlo onto the fuse rotisserie for all that tabbing and gross layout on seat frames, etc. underway, and the build table knocked down and transported to my place. With heat in my garage, I can weld over the winter to get my own airplane on gear by the spring and back to the wing build-out.
The top fuselage frames were welded up after coping, fitting, prep work (#30 holes for tube oil, deburr, polish), and tacking, and both are hanging over Carlo's garage benches.
IMG_0997.jpg
Carlo's hanger clean-up/wing work over the early part of the Labor Day weekend yielded a happy hanger mate (both RV and his Mustang II looking nicely free of spare airplane parts scattered underneath), a new bench, new vertical storage shelves which utilize more of the generously-sized full hanger, reduction of the horizontal filing system footprint, and some progress on getting his wings wired and all that detail work done.
IMG_0991.jpg
Both sets of landing gear were plumbed for brakes and the TE treatment was bonded on after priming. Worth noting is that - rather than form the TE ribs from sheet with the 20 ton press - Carlo decided to try welding the rib from .032 4130N flat stock with an aluminum heat sink... turned out well. We had decided to forgo the lower rib in favor of eliminating any catch-points for condensation and go with something closer to the current factory standard. The decision to avoid the second Adel clamp near the axle was based on Carlo's observation that bulkhead fittings are really happiest when installed in bulkheads, so the hard line down from the fuselage flex line to flex line to the brake goes bulkhead to bulkhead. Axles will wait until the fuselage is welded and on the fuse rotisserie for final alignment and tacking... there will be some grinding of primer to do, but the ability to tweak things supersedes a little extra weld prep work. BTW, we cut that axle relief with a mini-mill using a tilt table jig to set the required double-angle... have a shot, but have to fish it out of the camera. The step is not well-represented in this shot, but we went with some scrap streamline for the upper arm and round for the lower, with the actual streamline step and end-plate to be cut and welded after the aircraft is on its gear (along with the axles!).
IMG_1017.jpg IMG_1016.jpg IMG_1018.jpg
Sunday was consumed getting the modular table extended to 18' with a cantilevered add-on (the table system is built in 2' increments, with the current two 8' x 34" standard modules sufficient for upper fuse). We could have done a single 24" full table module, but the cantilever was easier to do and preserved some access for the foot pedal and torch connections. Once that work was done, Carlo worked late Sunday and Mon AM to get the lower longerons spliced and bent in the horizontal plane while I built up the standoffs for welding the back side of the lower frame while clamped to the table (the shock strut/front seat base frame needs clearance) and a few other wood and ply-based jigs.
IMG_1014.jpg IMG_0995 (1).jpg IMG_1006.jpg
The weekend also saw the reincarnation of the aileron leading edge skin bending jig discussed previously. The first version was disassembled and ply used for other projects, so when Carlo became a bit dissatisfied with the fit on one small section of his right aileron, I got a chance to do SkinBender 2.0, shrinking the footprint and reducing the materials requirement to a half sheet of 18mm ply and a single 2x4, as well as reducing the component count and improving ease of build. I will do an article on this second jig, as it really does make a perfect bend for the aileron a very quick thing.
With Carlo home on Tuesday and free from other responsibilities, I burned a day of vacation and we worked on the lower frame cutting/fitting/tacking job (which included some very good demos of repair techniques as I got used to the pulse feature on Carlo's SquareWave ... my Everlast has a flex head CK torch and very different pedal feel, so that's my excuse for those burn-throughs while tacking the thinnest wall stuff)... I did get better...slowly. By late afternoon, we had both lower frames ready to get the upper bend set between A and B, as well as start getting things welded up. BTW, Carlo borrowed a mini-mill for the coping, and that was a lovely tool to have to rough the ends, with cleanup done with the usual second cut carbide bit.
IMG_1001.jpg IMG_1013.jpg
My plan is to take the welded upper and lower frames back down to my shop, then give Carlo a hand completing his fuse while we still have warmer weather (no heat in his garage or hanger). The blocking and fixturing developed should be readily transportable as are the built tables. In the meantime, I need to re-convert my garage from what was a 1992-vintage show office for a then-new former cow pasture community to a heated and air-conditioned space with the old 10' x 10' manager's office ripped out along with the wall-to-wall carpet. That should take me into October, which will get Carlo onto the fuse rotisserie for all that tabbing and gross layout on seat frames, etc. underway, and the build table knocked down and transported to my place. With heat in my garage, I can weld over the winter to get my own airplane on gear by the spring and back to the wing build-out.
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