The strip method or other?

Originally Posted by fly_kc

Great work! How are you going to connect the halves? I think that it would have been better if you have made both halves at the same time and connected them while they were still "wet", now I'm a bit worried on how strong will the joint be.

To align the two halves splines will be used with micro as the adhesive. Two layers of fabric will be aplied to each side of the joints after the peal-ply is removed.

Mark

Good luck with the project, and keep photographing

Originally Posted by fly_kc

How are you going to connect the halves?

You might want to check Poliwagen plans for some info about composite plane construction, you will find a link in this post
The Razorback construction thread

Mark great work so far, I cant wait to see both halves together you probably too. Is that you on this picture it seem that you use proper mask. Keep going and keep posting! Really like your work even if I'm not a fan of this type of molds.

Thanks
Seb

Originally Posted by Mac790

You might want to check Poliwagen plans for some info about composite plane construction, you will find a link in this post

Is that you on this picture it seem that you use proper mask. Keep going and keep posting! Really like your work even if I'm not a fan of this type of molds.

Thanks
Seb

The Poliwagen site has a lot of good information, thanks.

I am the masked man in the picture.

Today the weather outside is just right for puting the two halves of the fuselage together. Here are the pieces splined using a biscuit cutter. Micro was aplied to the spline slots and along the joint to be connected. My helpers are on standby.

The halves apeared to line up perfectly. You can see the other stripper, the canoe, in the first photo. The boat was practice for the airplane fuselage.

Everything went together as planned.

Nice job congratulation! Keep going and keep posting it's really becoming the airplane, I really like it. It must be a great feeling, to put these both halves together into one fuselage after months of work. It's a pity that Duncan stoped his project, we could have another fuselage in a month or so.

Seb

Originally Posted by Mac790

Nice job congratulation! Keep going and keep posting it's really becoming the airplane, I really like it. It's a pity that Duncan stoped his project, we could have another fuselage in a month or so.

Seb

Thanks Seb,

I plan on doing the firewall next followed by the vertical tail. The tail will be hot wire cut out of 2lb. foam.

I am also looking forward to seeing Duncan continue on with the Razorback project. We have two different aproaches with a similar outcome.

Mark

Looking great Mark. Congrats!

Originally Posted by Jman

Looking great Mark. Congrats!

Thanks Jake,

I may not be very chatty on your forum, but but I hope the pics give others some ideas and encouragement. The forum has also taught me a lot.

Mark

Hey ROM,
Well done, mate. She sure is looking good. I love keeping track of your progress, because there is nothing like watching a fellow builder make progress to spur one on...

My Razorback is sitting quietly on its stand, waiting for a cash injection so that I can at least glass the outside. I have the tail to do yet, but don't expect that to be a major once I have assembled all the materials.

Well done.

Duncan

Amazing progress, Mark!
Where'd you get the idea for the biscuit joiners?
And while I'm asking questions - how much finishing is going to be required for the outside surface?
Also, did you consider lining your female bulkheads/forms in some such manner so that the outside skin layup could have been made directly in the female mold/form?

Mark it seems that we have time for questions so:
Three more questions for you.

1 What is the weight for the fuselage?
2 How stiff were these halves before you put them together?
3 How stiff is it (the fuselage) without bulkheads and longerons?

Seb

btw
If you think that some of these questions are "silly" (nr 2 and 3), please ignore them.

Originally Posted by AVI

Amazing progress, Mark!
Where'd you get the idea for the biscuit joiners?
And while I'm asking questions - how much finishing is going to be required for the outside surface?
Also, did you consider lining your female bulkheads/forms in some such manner so that the outside skin layup could have been made directly in the female mold/form?

I have used the biscuit jointer quite a bit for building cabinets, paneling and furnature, so it was just a natural choice of tools to which I commonly use.

The amount of finishing is yet to be determined. I am pretty good trowel.

As far as female molds, since I didn't want to build the airplane twice and didn't have the room to store the things, doing a typical mold was out of the question. My objective was to come up with a simplified method of creating a complex shape. Directly attaching the foam to the forms seemed the most direct aproach, cutting a bunch of steps in the process.