Peter Garsden

Dihedral Brace Idea My solution to the dihedral brace problem is to add another 1/32" ply brace on the other side of the spar (Actually the plan was under my jig, and I guessed the position wrongly as in front of the spar rather than behind, so I thought, why not have two it will bind the spar together and support it). Problem is that the front one has nothing to attach to because of the spar, so I have made 3 pieces of 3/32 infill to glue the brace to - see picture

Don't want you to think I am copying but this is the scheme I am planning - what colour solarfilm did you choose?

After blithering on about how brilliant my SLEC jig was, when I dissembled the fuselage I noticed that the spring of the sides was so great, despite wetting it for 5 minutes as suggested by Andy, that it had not joined successfully even thought I had mixed in some special Ripmax reinforcement powder for fibreglass. It makes the epoxy harder - called Xilica and is better than microballoons - very good for moldies. So have had to reclamp overnight. See you all at the Orme tomorrow?

Late nights and early mornings make Peter poor and not very wise - is that the saying - think not. This is really turning into a comedy of errors. I like to see it as a word to the wise in case anyone is behind me in the build - maybe? I managed to snap F5 like a twig when offering it up for fitting. Traplet have made the grain such that if you bend the former at all as you do when putting the fuselage together it splits by the notch at the top as the photo shows. So I have had to reinforce it with some of the scrap 2mm ply - pain.

If you dont have a fuselage jig, order one now from SLEC. They are brilliant - specially for a difficult bending fuselage like this one. I wondered whether it was an avoidable luxury but not at all. It can be used to hold things as well as bending fuselages together. I have used it for every model I have made - even the Alpha Jet which was fibreglass lost foam. It was great for lining up the anhedral tail plane which was very different. That having been said, I had to use not only the jig but also cramps at the top of the fuselage to hold it all together. This looks like block scaffolding

I have uploaded two photos just to show you what I have been doing tonight and also to ilustrate what a state the above error has made of the fuselage side. I had to fill it and reinforce it with 1/16th balsa, as it started to split. When prising off the triangular longeron it gauged out some balsa Edited By Pete B - Moderator on 13/04/2014 10:08:44

I had the same problem when covering my Alpha Jet with the same colours (not started the JP yet as I am no where ne ar finished the build) - but one more - red, white a blue. The way I did it was also with a cardboard template for fancy zig zags. For the rest however - where it met the lines I did this:- For the white bit at the top for example Put a piece on top of the nose wrapping all the way to the mid line join and stretching back to the middle of the canopy. Allow it oversize then cut out the line of the canopy with a brand new scalpel blade on both sides and at the front. Another white piece stretching all the way to the tail but jointed against the bottom of the fin - so there is one piece per side jointed down the middle of the fuselage at the top with a slight overlap. Like you did a black marker line to show the join down the sidethrough the covering in white. Make the white a bit oversize so one can see where the red needs to be cut.. Cut the red basically to shape but oversize. Lay the red against the joint, and iron it nearly up to the joint line, then using a sharp scalpel cut down the joint line and peel off the excess. This way you don't have cut a piece exactly to size round complex curves which is a nightmare. Also it avoid wrinkles if you are careful. As I know you have done, cover the air intakes before gluing on, also the tail likewise. Looks like a damn good job to me with cracking lines so well done - I know how difficult it is. My Alpha Jet you can look at on Saturday but it is nowhere near as good a job as yours. Also I managed to land it on a road last Sunday and it is undergoing cosmetic repair. I used the method of laying on the white slightly oversize first followed by the darker colours - Lux Blue and Red over the top following the black marker pen lines - easier on mine as the lines were straighter - this is a bad picture but you get the idea.

I am a new PSSA Member and a very late starter to the build. Hope to be at the Fly In next week with my Vulcan and newly built Alpha Jet. Have started the build. Done half of the wing, and some fuselage. Just wanted to warn people not be as stupid as I was. I failed to realise that the fuselage halves are in 4 pieces per side not 2 as I thought. Realised this when too late. I was looking at the plan through baking paper and there are a lot of lines. Didn't realise that there are two pieces to stick at the top of each half. Glued the triangular bits to the top then realised they were wrong, and had to slice them off again - right mess needing filler. I think that Traplet could mark all parts like they do the ribs and the Battery Box so it is clear. I had to ring them up to check. They were very helpful. If each fuselage bit said Fus on it or something it would be easier. Here is a photo.

Great idea Phil, was worried about the fragility of that tail section. I have only just started building - better idea as one can read all the blogs - even got my IPAD set up in the hobby room - I was going to put some light weight fibreglass cloth over the top but this achieves the same goal. I was also considering making the whole fuselage using the lost foam method - but have now bought the wood pack. It just seems that with these jets there are so many curves, that they lend themselves more to fibreglass than wood - reading the blogs this certainly seems the case. Have just made an Alpha Jet th is way, but the weight penalty, if you don't get the thickness right and put too much resin on - as I did - is the result - personally I think it flies better heavier and faster - just not flyable in light winds. Food for thought - will anyone be making a fibreglass fus and foam wings - I wager not!

I was trying to do consecutive "bunts" up at Edge Top in light lift with my Willow F3F when I pulled Up instead of Down - result - nose buried in slope. Didn't have a spade to dig out the cone, so could do with a new nose cone, if anyone has one for sale. Will repair the old left wing, but not very well. If anyone has a nose cone (any colour but preferably red) or left wing - (must be white, black and red colour scheme) let me know