Finished the tacking on the stand-offs for the third stringer (made adjustments to two of the ones I had previously done). Leveled the first stringer on the left side of the fuselage.
Dec
10
1.8hrs
Aligned, ground down and tacked on (4) stand-offs.
Dec 11
1.1hrs
Leveled second stringer on the left side.
Dec 12
1.4hrs
Worked on and tacked on four additional stringer stand-offs.
Dec 14
2.4hrs
Leveled sixth stringer. Aligned, ground to shape and tacked on stand-offs for stringer.
Dec 15
.9hrs
Welded up the stand-offs on the left side of the fuselage.
Dec 16
1hr
Welded up the stand-offs on the right side.
1.6hrs
Welded up the stringer tabs (front and back).
Dec 17
.4hrs
Reviewed stand-off layout to confirm lengths of stand-offs.
Dec 18
1.5hrs
Marked lengths of stand-offs. Went to attach stringers and saw that I still needed to attach the additional stand-offs for the formers at station 24.o.
Dec 19
1.5hrs
Tacked on four former stand-offs. Welded on all eight of the former stand-offs.
Dec 21
1.1hrs
Confirmed alignment of all stringer stand-offs and marked locations of stringers and cut-backs (1/8").
Dec 22
.9hrs
Re-aligned one of the stringer locations then marked all stand-off cut-offs. Cut down top, port-side stand-offs.
Dec 23
1.8hrs
Cut down the rest of the stand-offs to size.
Dec 26
.3hrs
Spent a little over an hour messing with the fuselage trying to flip it (one guy flipping a 100 lb frame in a one car garage trying to avoid hitting a Harley). Not logging 1.2hrs of time for just flipping and leveling a fuselage.
2.2hrs
Made the gusset pattern for the bottom former at station 10.5. Traced, cut, ground down, filed and sanded all four gussets.
Dec 27
1.5hrs
Needed to make four additional gussets for Station 10.5. Made them.
2013
Jan 8
.6hrs
Evaluated what I needed to do again... after being sick with something for about 2 weeks.
Jan 12
1.8hrs
Confirmed gussets for stations 10.5 and 27.0. Started drilling lightening holes in gussets for 27.0. Took forever to drill three of them.
Jan 13
1.4hrs
Drilled ligthening holes in former gussets.
Jan 15
2hrs
Made jig for belly former at station 27.o then tacked in place.
Jan 16
1.3hrs
Aligned and tacked on the belly former at station 27.o. Reattached the firewall blank.
Jan 17
2hrs
Tacked on the additional gussets on station 27.o former. Tried fitting up the former pattern at station 10.5 but couldn't get it to work. Thinking maybe of only doing the former up six inches on the back side of the front landing gear attach point.
Jan 21
2.2hrs
Worked on the belly former at station 10.5. Needed to get the angle from the firewall to station 27.o so that I could form up the correct radius at station 10.5. Tried using a few sheets of laminate. They worked somewhat but bowed. Found a piece of thin masonite and attached it using screws and straps. Cut the pattern for cutting the holes on the gussets.
Jan 26
2.1hrs
Tweaking the former for the belly of station 10.5 (just about there). Modified the four gussets to fit onto the upper longerons.
Jan 27
.8hrs
Re-made one of the gussets for station 10.5.
1.9hrs
Tacked on one set of gussets at station 10.5. Tweaked the former and then tacked it to the two gussets.
Jan 28
1.6hrs
Squared up former at station 27.o and tacked the second set of gussets onto the fuselage then tacked the gussets to the former. Determined what I was going to do with the former at station 49.o6. Cut it to size. Squared it up to the fuselage and tacked it in place.
Jan 29
1.1hrs
Made six more front and rear tabs for the stringers to lock into.
Jan 30
1.3hrs
Started working on fitting up the belly stringers. More thinking than doing tonight.
Feb 1
2hrs
Welded on 3/8" tube to back-end of fuselage to mount center stringer tab. Filed all three tabs to fit and then tacked on.
.9hrs
Marked former 27.o for stinger tab locations. Filed tabs to fit then tacked on.
Feb 2
2.4hrs
Flipped the fuselage. Temporary attachment of front and back of stringer. Turned on the laser level and started leveling. Cut belly former for station 77.o and tacked onto fuselage.
Feb 3
1.1hrs
Most of the alignment boards for the stand-offs were on the wrong side for easy welding. Spent all this time on re-aligning the stringers with the board on the correct side.
1.6hrs
Fine tuning of stringer alignment. Notching stand-offs and tacking into place. Also decided to eliminate the former at station 105.o and use just stand-offs. (less weight and looks like it will be stiffer than the oddball)
Feb 4
1.5hrs
Re-check alignment of stringer. Confirmed then welded center stand-offs onto fuselage. Needed to figure out stand-off lengths for stations 49.o6 and 77.o. The rest of the lengths fall to the natural bend of the aluminum stringer.
Feb 5
1.6hrs
Leveled the stardboard stringer. I'll be tacking it on tomorrow.
Feb 6
1.9hrs
Tweaked the stand-offs and tacked them on the starboard side.
Feb 8
1.7hrs
Leveled the last belly stringer.
Feb 9
2.2hrs
Last set of stand-offs for the belly aligned and tacked onto the fuselage
Feb 11
1.9hrs
Started cutting down the belly stand-offs to size... then, I needed to re-level and tack one of the stand-offs back on when the tack on it broke off from me grinding it.
Feb 12
1.5hrs
Finish welded the belly stand-offs.
Feb 14
1.1hrs
Finish welded the forward starboard gussets station 10.5 and station 27.o. Continued cutting down belly stand-offs.
Feb 16
1.8hrs
Cutting down the belly stand-offs to size and cutting the angles from the step to the foot. All cut... just filing to finish them off. Still need to sand to a smooth finish.
Feb 17
1.1hrs
Filed and sanded the belly stand-offs to a smooth finish. Attached stringers onto stand-offs with tape... for now. NICE !
Feb 18
1.6hrs
Reshaping the stand-offs on the starboard side. About 1/2 of them needed trimming to prevent part of the stand-off from possibly hitting the fabric.
Feb 19
1.4hrs
Filed down and sanded smooth the belly stand-offs that I cut to size yesterday.
Feb 20
1hr
Figured out... then modified two stand-offs to work as the rear stringer tabs.
Feb 22
1.6hrs
Positioned and welded on the two new rear tabs for the bottom, side stringers. Started to trim down the legs on the port side stand-offs.
Feb 23
3.3hrs
Confirmed measurements of port stand-offs then trimmed, filed and sanded the additional nine. Created new pattern for upper former at station 46.o9.
Feb 24
2hrs
Looked over R plans to see where things needed to be connected to the longerons. Went out to the garage and started thinking of what I needed to do at those locations for building up the longerons for the shape. Station 27.o need to move the gussets for the former further towards the center. Made pattern, cut and sanded smooth all four.
Feb 25
2hrs
Welded on the four gussets onto the upper former at station 27.o. Cut and fitted up a few diagonals between the side and upper formers at station 27.o. Figured out what I'll be doing for the "false" upper longerons between station 27.o and 49.o6.
Feb 26
.8hrs
Found an 8ft length of 7/8 inch tubing to use for the false longerons. Figured out exactly what I would do and the measurements. Decided to hold off and buy some .o35 instead of using the .o49 I have. I'll save close to a pound on just the four pieces.
Feb 27
1.7hrs
Positioned and welded on fairleads for the rudder cables.
Mar 2
2.6hrs
Notched the two rear false longerons. These are the ones that I'm building out from the fuselage to give it a more rounded look. (Note: this was a lot of notching.)
Mar 3
2.2hrs
Cut all three pieces for the forward starboard false longeron. Notched both stand-off tubes.
Mar 4
2hrs
Cut second set of false longeron stand-offs. Took about an hour to tweak the first set.
Mar 5
1.8hrs
Welded on caps to false longerons. Tacked both onto fuselage.
Mar 6
1.2hrs
Tweaked the notches in the rearward false longerons.
Mar 8
1.8hrs
Notched stand-offs for the rear portion of the false longerons.
Mar 10
1.7hrs
Messed up both stand-offs I made the other day. Re-made them.
1.8hrs
Made caps, welded then filed and sanded the ends of the rear false longerons. Postioned and tacked them into place.
2300 hours !!!
Mar 11
2.2hrs
Started welding up false longerons.
Mar 12
1.1hrs
More welding of the false longerons.
Mar 13
1.3hrs
Welded on stab wire attach straps and finished welding on fairleads.
Mar 16
2.2hrs
Flip fuselage and just about finished welding the false longerons. I need to flip it back over to finish up the rear false longeron on the front end. (I extended the other side for an easier weld around the front joint.
1.1hrs
Looked over the plans to see where the top rear strut attaches (Station 24.o) Held it up against the fuselage and discovered I needed to move one of the gussets for the former at that location. Moved it and saw I didn't move it enough. Had to cut the tack welds again and reposition and tack.
Mar 17
1.6hrs
Confirmed angles on rear strut attach brackets. Drilled under-sized holes. That's it.
Mar 18
1.4hrs
Cleaned up both sets of rear strut brackets before welding them up. Welded up one set.
Mar 20
1.6hrs
Welded up the 2nd rear strut bracket and finished the welding up on the two stab wire attach straps.
Mar 22
1.7hrs
Re-made/bent upper former for station 49.o6.
Mar 23
.5hrs
Researched how fuselage sides need to be made at bottom wing juncture. Took a stab at looking at the Model 14 on the Steen sight. It's what I needed.
1.6hrs
Cut and banged the third piece of the 3-piece rear strut attach. Both are ready to be welded up.