Chapter 7 - Step 4

Step 4 involves contouring the top corners of the fuselage, making the cutout for the canard, and making the fuel sight gauge from the outside.

Canard Cutout June 11, 2000. Here is the front of the fuselage after cutting for the canard cutout.

Contour Lines June 11, 2000. In preparation for contouring the top corners I made the contour templates on drawing M-16. I then traced this on the canard cutout at F-28. I traced some of the key lines down the sides and used them to know how much foam to remove.

Corner Contoured June 11, 2000. The right side is now contoured. It came out much better than the bottom corners.

Spar Fix - Before May 1, 2005. It turns out I misread the plans a bit (along with many other people) with regard to contouring the foam around the spar cutout. Nat published a clarification in newletter #78. I'm finally getting around to making the fix. This picture shows what my fuselage looked like before I made any changes. The problem here is that the foam should be removed along the outside of the upper longeron above the spar cutout and from LWX under the spar cutout. The whole idea is that when the spar is mounted and taped into place, the tapes should be on the longeron and LWX, not the foam.

Spar Fix - During May 1, 2005. Here is the upper longeron after the initial removal of the foam.

Spar Fix - During May 1, 2005. Here is LWX after the initial removal of the foam.

Spar Fix - After May 1, 2005. The last step is to make everything taper and transition well for future glassing. All of the exposed foam will be covered later when the spar is installed.