The following photos and ideas are purely our own. It
works for us but you are ultimately responsible for the work and
applicability to your plane.
This
battery box is built with aluminum angle. You need to heat the aluminum
and bend slowly to avoid cracking or breakage. This installation only
works if you are installing the fiberglass nosecone as the battery box
sits slightly outside the framework. This position is really
accessible.
Note the aluminum sheeting attached to
the inside left of the fuselage. This is where the buss bar is mounted. We
use wire wrap around all the wiring and bring it around the outside of the
aluminum sheet to keep the cockpit neat. We always shoot the fuselage with
primer and finish coat before covering for a nice finished appearance. The
inside of the nosecone will also be painted (use a roller). You
must remove paint where you will have glue surface.
For added strength, we use aluminum
sheet to gussett the ribs to the bottom of
the wing in the inboard box of the
wing. We also make an additional box at the
outboard (only 3-4" wide inside the last rib). We feel this
helps keep the last rib aligned and stable in the shrinking process.
We were in the process here of setting
the hinges for the ailerons.
Notice the portable sawhorses? Using PVC
pipe and fittings you can make them to fit the height you desire to work
at ...and disassembly and storage is easy. Make a great work space by
using a sheet of plywood to bridge .
Also notice that we generally spread
sheets across any surface that will contact aluminum to prevent any
abrasion that would open it up to corrosion. (Visit Goodwill...sheets are
cheap, corrosion isn't.)
In
an effort to soften the scalloped appearance of the leading edge, (reduce
the peaks and valleys), we run an aviation approved twill tape (1/2")
in 3 strips. Actually the purpose is two-fold. It helps to support the
fabric and keep it from shrinking quite so deeply between the ribs and it
is glued to each rib which maintains the spacing between them during the
shrink. (More later on fabricing and shrinking). We riveted and glued on
the ends of the twill and spot glued on the tops with a product similar to
Superglue. Superflite U-500 won't do it!
On
to the fuselage..... We like to form around the box beneath the engine. An
aluminum 'floor' is installed, aluminum formed around the tubing, and lexan used to finish enclosing the area. A cap is made to top it off (use
rivnuts to attach). The forming of the area is two-fold. The aluminum
allows for an excellent glue surface and it creates a great storage
compartment for carrying your tool kit.
This
particular plane is outfitted with a 12 gallon tank. Behind the tank there
is a small storage compartment formed out of lexan and the same width as
the fuselage. This is for oil storage.
Notice that the interior is only powder-coated in the cockpit
area.
We beef up our landing gears by
inserting a 6" piece of solid core aluminum in the center of the leg
tubes. This has prevented many a bent landing gear due to less than
perfect touchdowns.
Instead of a full fiberglass cap, we
opted to fill in the rear portion with tinted
lexan. The picture probably doesn't do it justice... up close it looks
great. It provides for easy inspection during pre-flight.
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PO Box 1710 Holland
Landing Ontario
L9N 1P2 647-723-8767
Airfield
1895 10th line east of Hwy 11 Bradford Ontario
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This
battery box is built with aluminum angle. You need to heat the aluminum
and bend slowly to avoid cracking or breakage. This installation only
works if you are installing the fiberglass nosecone as the battery box
sits slightly outside the framework. This position is really
accessible.
For added strength, we use aluminum
sheet to gussett the ribs to the bottom of
the wing in the inboard box of the
wing. We also make an additional box at the
outboard (only 3-4" wide inside the last rib). We feel this
helps keep the last rib aligned and stable in the shrinking process.
We were in the process here of setting
the hinges for the ailerons.
Notice the portable sawhorses? Using PVC
pipe and fittings you can make them to fit the height you desire to work
at ...and disassembly and storage is easy. Make a great work space by
using a sheet of plywood to bridge .
This
particular plane is outfitted with a 12 gallon tank. Behind the tank there
is a small storage compartment formed out of lexan and the same width as
the fuselage. This is for oil storage.
