Yo G-Pete,
Yep, No matter what you have, somebody's got one bigger and better!
Thanks for the info: I've got a couple UP valves in my stock along with Jomar door sequencers: both work very well:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXCJE1&P=7
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Center fuse (cont)
Formers F-1 to F-3 and nose gear mounts.
As previously mentioned, I made up new aircraft ply for the original 3 ply for formers F-1 to F-3.
Since nose weight is normally (seems always!) needed up front, I'm epoxy'ing the old 3 ply to the new 5 ply formers for F-1 to F-3.
To span the thicker formers and give me a little 'wiggle room', I made up new nose gear mounts from hard maple.
The nose gear has a bolt head sticking out of each side so to clear them, the bolt holes are only 7/64" in from the edge.
On option would be to grind a notch in the sides of the wooden mounts for the bolt but the formers already have the spacing of 1 7/8" between mounts so I opted for close to the edge. I drilled for #6 hex head screws and blind nuts. The blind nuts flanges hung over the side of the mount and were ground off.
I'm parcel to epoxy'ing the wood mounts with the gear attached to insure everything is aligned as non-parallel wood mounts can cause the gear to bind. This way, I sand the formers to fit the mount versus cutting the wood mounts to fit the gear.
The install with the gear means some adjustment for the install:
First I had to move the nose of the crutch out over the end of the table for 'gear room'.
I had to cut a 2" hole in my work table: to insure the crutch stays level, once the gear is on, I have to then move the crutch back over the table so the oleo goes into the hole so I can now support both ends of the crutch.
Also, former F-2 is put on when F-1 and F-3 are epoxied but not secured to the crutch or mounts: once the epoxy dries for F-1 and F-3, the nose gear is removed and then F-2 is epoxied in place. Until the fuse is sheeted and the doors cut out, the nose gear can only be mounted for installing F-1 and F-3. F-2 only has one side touching the wood mounts so it is secondary in any gear support.
pic 1:
new hard maple wood supports an extra 5/8" longer (8 1/2" total)
pic 2/3:
A small vise is used to secure the blind nuts firmly in place.
After drilling the holes for the #6 screws, I then flip over the mount and drill a slightly larger hole about a 1/4" deep so the blind nuts will easily slide into the hole. The barbs and a little epoxy holds them in place.
pic 4:
Dry fit gear and wooden mounts to F-1,2,3.
pic 5:
Here, the fuse is extended past the table to install the gear assembly.
pic 6/7:
2 1/2" hole in table for gear.
pic 8:
dry fit of gear and formers.
F-3 put on first, then F-2 is moved to a couple inches of F-3 so the gear assembly can be put into F-3's mount holes.
pic 9:
F-3 is then put on and the wood mounts put into it's mount holes.