Moving on with the build…
I’ve covered the builds of the forward fuselage, ski retraction, animatronic and cockpit. All of these need finishing off but that will be after the model is painted, so bear with me.
Next on the list is the rear fuselage. This has been tricky as I’ve had to re-design some areas to accommodate the new ski actuators which went through several iterations. I also failed to take into account the increase in skin thickness over the curvatures of the airframe plus I re designed a few formers to save some weight. All this meant that there was a lot of fettling.
Everything is interlocked which helps transmit the loads but also means everything has to be bonded at the same time or at least clamped into position while some of the structure is bonded. The rear fuselage formers dictate where the wing spars are and by extension the wings, if out of alignment then the wings won’t fit or be square with the airframe. The same can be said for the vertical stabiliser. What this means is that I have to assemble the whole model, dry fit everything, square the wings and vertical stabiliser and assess what areas need trimming and repeat the process until all the formers are seated correctly. The intakes need to be installed as these bolt onto the formers and it is important they have a tight seal onto the formers and run in the correct alignment. Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m moaning because I love being part of this project but assembling and dissembling the model got old very quickly!! I lost count… and started wondering if a 1/8th version might have been a better idea
The last time I was seen smiling for around 2 months.
IMG_0404 by
Alex Jones, on Flickr
The carbon seat component for the vertical stabiliser.
IMG_0441 by
Alex Jones, on Flickr
The turbines had to be installed and aligned also during this process.
IMG_0476 by
Alex Jones, on Flickr
The aft bulkhead former and ducting dry fitted in place.
IMG_0474 by
Alex Jones, on Flickr
Checking the alignment of the wings and vertical stabiliser.
IMG_0528 by
Alex Jones, on Flickr
Finally all the rear formers bonded into the correct position. Yay
IMG_0847 by
Alex Jones, on Flickr