| OCT 29, 2003. The craft is now flipped and I
can start the cockpit. |
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| Nov 1-15. Chris Keirs and I mounted the cockpit
stringers and seat stringers. |
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| Notice the seat and cockpit side stringers do not meet.
This is to allow water to drain out of the cockpit. |
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| Here is a side view of the back of the stingers showing the
gap between the seat and wall stringers. |
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| Nov 15, 2003. Chris Keirs helped me cut the
cockpit panels to size and I epoxy coated them for water resistance and to
make finishing easier. To cut the front so that it was planer when
bent to shape, we mounted the plywood to the stringers so it was bent like
it would be on the HC. Then Chris used his laser level to give us a
straight angled line that we marked on the front plywood. The actual
shape on the plywood when it is flat again is a slight upward bow and not a
straight line. |
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| Nov 30, 2003. Here I have glued on three of the
four cockpit panels using epoxy. |
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| Dec 4, 2003. Chris Joe and I put on the first
cockpit stingers. Each top edge gets three 3/8 x 3/4" stingers so the
top edge will be a little over an inch thick when I am done. |
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| The stringers are glued with epoxy and clamped and stapled
to hold them on until the epoxy cures. It is hard to get the stringers
to follow the downward angles so I will have to sand some to smooth out the
top edge when they are all mounted. |
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| Dec 7, 2003. I put on the last cockpit top stringer
and added the rear cockpit stringers. The rear stringers are 3/4" x
3/4" hardwood I purchased at Home Depot. |
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| The cockpit side walls are made up of two panels. This
is one of the 3" splices that join the walls on the inside. I will
glass over it later so that it is smoother. The other picture is the rear
cockpit board that connects the rear of the two cockpit sides. |
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| Jan 7, 2004. Here is the dash board cut
to shape and the dash plywood. I used a router to cut the arc for the
duct. |
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| Jan 13, 2004. Here the dash is glued on with
epoxy and fiberglass underneath. The dash board is just placed to keep
the plywood in the proper shape. I will make a larger dash board later
to hold the instruments. |
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| 1st picture is the kevlar belt I glued on the lift duct.
I did not want a shattered lift prop joining me in the cockpit.... The
2nd picture is the seat sides glued onto the bottom stingers. I used
wood spacers to hold the sides in position. |
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| JAN 16, 2004. The 1st picture shows the top
seat stringers glued on to the seat sides with epoxy. The 2nd picture
shows the lift fan supports are glued with epoxy and fiberglassed to the duct. I
still need to glass the rest of the supports to the seat sides and cut the
30 degree slots for the idler pulleys. |
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| JAN 18, 2004. Mark came over had helped build
the seat. The seat is made from 1/4" B-C plywood that is epoxy coated.
Then 3/4" stringers are added to the edges and the seat fits over the seat
sides in the cockpit. My son Billy is helping Mark. |
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| Here is the seat mounted in the cockpit. A separate
section was made for the front so just that section could be removed to work
on the controls. It has a curved end to match the duct. |
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| Jan 26, 2004. I have added the side reinforcements for
the through spar. I will glass them in this week but they are glued in
with epoxy and cut fibers. |
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| Feb 1, 2004. The engine mount board are glued to the
deck with epoxy and cut fibers. Then the sides were fiberglassed on
for extra support. |
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| Mar. 4, 2004. Mike Bice
also rebuilds aircraft seats. For this job he took two types of foam
and glued them together then attached the seat bottom. The foam was cut with
a Bosch foam cutter and then wrapped with 1/4'' foam. |
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| Then he fabricated the seat
cover and installed. Looks really nice and is pretty comfy. The
bottom foam is denser than the top foam so it gives but you don't bottom
out. 2nd picture shows the nose reinforcement. It has a the following
lay up: 3oz FG, 5 oz Carbon, 5 oz carbon, 10 oz Kevlar & 3 oz tight weave FG
for finishing. Should be pretty strong and will need to be during
docking etc. |
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| April 25, 2004.
Added the side wing attach strips. I figure is is easier to do it now. |
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| April 28, 2004.
Making the slots in the lift belt tubes that fit under the seat. Chris
Keirs came up with the idea to make a handle with a 90 degree fitting so we
could guide it through the table saw. It worked out pretty well. |
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| May 15, 2004. I did
a foam board mock up of the gas tanks for the craft. Now I need to
figure out how to feed from both to the engine. Mike will weld them
from the remaining 0.100 aluminum sheet that was used for the instrument
panel. They will fit on either side of the lift duct under the dash
board. |
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