Planking a curved fuselage, best method?

[martin collins 1]

I am about to start planking the fuselage on my foam Carvair project, some of this is heavily curved, what is the best method, is there a better way than simply sanding till you get the next bit to be a good fit, do you make a card template for each one? What is the preferred method, would be interested to know if there is more than one way to do this.

[Geoff S]

I've never done an aircraft fuselage but I planked the bow and stern sections of a Thames sailing barge hull and I just started at the keel and fitted each plank as I went, tapering as necessary. I built the hull skin from 3mm balsa and skinned it with epoxy and lightweight glass cloth.  Obviously the planked sections weren't perfectly blended in a curve because they're made up of a series of flat planks but careful sanding cured that and it looks OK - and is (hopefully) watertight 🙂

 

       

 

I didn't make any patterns but marked the plank individually. The only plank that needs to be very accurate is the last one to make a neat finish.  I may have used a little lightweight filler but, if I did, it was minimal.

[Don Fry]

Card templates, sand, mix and match. But be warned, it’s easy to stress the planks to make them fit, and it ends up bent. So I tend to hold it in a solid crutch for planking, , so it’s straight at the finish.

[John Rickett 102]

Use thin strips, sanding a slight chamfer on one edge to follow the curve. if the wood has to be really forced round the curve, the strips are too wide. Dampen each piece before gluing and progress both sides at the same time to cancel out the forces.  

[martin collins 1]

Will be using 3mm depron so it should bend easily to the shape. 

[Eric Robson]

Simon Chaddock planks his models with 5mm insulation foam, 3mm depronmay be a bit thin for planking as it varies in thickness and would be easy to sand too much off. I sheet 3mm depron 

[Tosh McCaber]

I built a SS Gnat many years ago, with formers and planks being 3/32 x 1/4- 3/8, suitably chamfered along the edges on each end.  Then finished with a layer of lightweight fibreglass cloth, resined on.  After sanding, it was a great finish.

Having built a few models with Depron (B&Q Diall, which I've found is pretty well identical to Depron), I find that it is very prone to dings, when unfinished, other than watercolour paint.  Had you any thoughts on finishing?

[martin collins 1]

It will be covered in Profilm Tosh.