Dave Garrett 1

Hi Everyone. Sorry its a been a long time since the my last post. Not a great deal of progress to report either. Other shorter term projects getting in the way.( DB Spots & Scale Corben Baby Ace & Sig 4 Star 20E) Now Back to the Monocoupe. After fitting all the lite-ply formers & balsa cross members, the rear fuselage has stiffened up remarkably. My earlier concerns about the structure been a bit light are now gone. The next stage was to fit CNC cut contour strips to the front end of the fuselage. The lack of identification of the CNC again caused problems. It was not obvious from the plan which parts were required from the balsa sheet or where they fitted. After a bit of head scratching & trial fitting of the pieces on the fuselage, I worked out where each one fitted. I hope I've got it right. The contour pieces have to be rebated into the vertical spacers by 1/16". I'm sure its OK, but cutting into the spacers does not feel right.. After the contour strips, 3/32" Sq & 1/8* sq spruce stringers are fitted to the sides, top & bottom. When fitting the stringers, I discovered that cyno adhesive is much better at sticking aeromodeller to Monocoupe than spuce to Monocoupe. Just a couple of small jobs before the front & rear fuselage sections are joined. That's all for now Cheers Dave

Hi Everyone A bit more done. Not as much progress as I hoped for. The big problem is the cold weather. I do all my building in the garage, which is unheated. I have to admit to being a bit of a southern softy & can only stay on the build for a short time I have build the second rear fuselage side. On this side the spacers have to be raised off the building board with scrap 1/16" balsa. When I removed the first side from the board, I left the outside scrap balsa pinned blocks in place & used them to align the second sides components. This resulted in two identical fuselage sides. After building, scrap 1/32" ply reinforcing is add to the top & bottom longeron joints. The position of the side stringers are marked on the fuselage sides spacers. Later the spacer are recessed 1/16" at these locations to accept the stringers. Yikes, they are only 3/16" thick now! Next a bit of light relief, the closed loop rudder bellcrank assembly THe fuselage side have been joined at front & rear ends. The Front end is joined by balsa spacers & a plywood plate. The plywood plate has 2 M6 captive nuts for wing attachment. After sanding a tapers on the inside faces of the stern post, the rear fuselage side are brought together & glued. A ply plate let in to the underside to mount the tail wheel bracket. This plate has tangs protruding from the sides for attachment of the tailplane bracing struts. A light ply former is fitted at front end Cheers Dave

Hi Robin It is a low wing Super 60, I built it myself last year from a Ben Buckle kit. It is still in my stable & may get some air under its wings this weekend if the weather gods are kind. Regard Dave

Hi Everybody A bit more done this evening. The port rear fuselage frame has been built. no problems encountered for a model of this size (77" wing span), the rear structure looks a little on the light size. The longerons are 1/4" balsa. These are splice jointed aft of the cabin area. A couple of CNC cut 1/4" balsa pieces make up the tail post & tailplane support. Apart from the first vertical, all spacers are only 3/16" balsa, insert from the outside edge (against building board). Here is the result At this stage, it appear to be common practice to introduce your furry helper. As we lost our dog 5 years ago, I will have to make do with Mr & Mrs A Bird to keep thing on the straight & narrow. Hopefully I should complete the stbd frame tomorrow. Cheers Dave

Thanks for the encouraging comments chaps I have just treated myself to a nice new piece of chip board for building the rear fuselage & wings (easily pleased I know). The old piece was getting a bit tatty & starting to warp. I have made a tentative start on the first rear fuselage frame. Maybe some photos tomorrow Cheers Dave

Hi Everybody Another progress update. I have just completed the front fuselage sheeting. This is the first time I have ever undertaken a sheeting task more complicated than a turtle deck, so it was a bit of an adventure. The first problem I encountered was the wood supplied for the task. Both 1/8" x 3" balsa sheets were almost totally quarter grain. They would have made excellent wing ribs, but no use at all for fuselage sheeting. Luckily, I had some straight grained 1/8" sheet balsa in stock. The first stage is full 3" wide sheets below the side window frames. After the glue had cured, 3/32" balsa CNC cut pieces are fitted over the side window frames. These are also glued to the top edge of the fuselage sheeting to allow the bottom edge of the side window to follow the general fuselage profile. The 3/32" balsa pieces also provide a nice internal rebate for fitting the glazing. The picture below shown the result. The build manual instructs you to glue pieces of 3/32" vertical grain balsa across the all joints to keep the subsequent sheeting aligned. This is shown in next photograph. nice tip! The lower full length sheeting is applied and trimmed to the cabin floor Before the top sheeting is fitted, the fuel tank installation is completed while there is still reasonable access A plug type filler kit is supplied with the kit. I choose to mount this on the starboard side of the fuselage. The attachment plate has been epoxied to the inside wall. The outside fitting is screwed to the plate after covering. The tank can still be slid out, at this stage. It will finally secured in place by a ply former after the plumbing has been completed. I quick plumbing check showed the tank feed pipe aligned with the hole in the firewall Before the top sheeting was added the tank bay was given a good coat of fuel proofer & the engine vibration absorber bushes tack glued into their holes. All sheeting completed and trimmed to the front former and dashboard. The underside sheeting is complete after the rear fuselage section & undercarriage has been fitted. Although not perfect, I am very happy with my first attempt at sheeting, no big gaps to fill Perhaps building a war bird is not that frightening after all! That the front end just about complete. Next stage is the rear fuselage structure. Longerons & spacers my favourite part of any build. Best Regards Dave