After GG set I could finally remove the upside-down fuse from the building board and start trimming the sheeting. I like how GG performed.
There's a detail picture about the hull interruption just past the step: this is to clear main gear cinematism; in the real thing gear doors seal the hull and the fuse sides well above waterline once the gear is up. Rather complex to do on the model.
From what you'll see next it won't be amphibious... too complicated. Land version will feature retracts, sea version will have retracts locked in the up position and lots of panels to seal the fuse here and there...
Look at the plan: what you see doesn't exist. Basically the custom made unit has a length (axle to pivot point) of only 104 mm, ~ 4". Too short if you want it to shock absorb rough landings. Plus (or minus I should say) the unit doesn't retract, it is fixed. It steers anyway.
What to do then? I wanted a
1. steering, 2. shock-absorbing and 3. retracting nose gear unit.
2. comes from a Robostrut, 650 straight. Quite easy. I cut it as short as possible. Seemed enough... if only pivot point of the retract wasn't miles up.
1. and 3. come from the retract.
At first I didn't know what to use. I had to choose between the large unit rated for models up to 10 kilos and the small one rated for models up to 6 kilos. Ok, the CL-215 will weight a bit more than 6 kilos but after I got the large unit I knew I couldn't fit it... no way!
I made a mock-up of the gear well to experiment with retract installation.
Took a deep breath and cut former C20 (in the mock-up). Fitted. Obviously.
Restyled the mock-up to see how far the mod would have gone into the surrounding structure. Basically I'll have to move the lower part of former C20 30mm back to fit the unit.
Dunno what else to do. But it has some plusses. Will tell you as soon as I got this mod done on the real fuse.
Doubling the well took me more than expected. It was a heck of a job in the end that costed me some real sweat and a few blisters as well.
Basically I drew the doublers on the modified plans, cut the doublers and fitted each of them in place. Although the pairs were identical, each of them required different accomodations here and there to fit properly. It takes time.
In the pictures you can see the doublers; 'inside' means they'll fit the well from the... inside; you can guess by yourselves what 'outside' means.
The first fitted was the floor. It basically strengthens the lite-ply floor.
BTW, doublers are 1.5 mm birch-ply.
< Message edited by g_boxwood -- 7/25/2006 10:26:59 PM >
Next came the most insane job ever done: I had to remove 1.5mm of material from bulkheads C20 and C20_new in the location shown in the pic; that is required to slide the 'outside' doublers in place. I had to cut through lite-ply and a 1/2" hardwood triangle stock...
I used every kind of saw blade and got the cuts done. That was insane, believe me!
I epoxied both the inside and outside doublers in place at the same time. I took care of the right and left well sides separately. It is enough if you work on one side at the time...
Obviously the job turned out as messy as usual when dealing with epoxy and large surfaces. Paper towels, rubbing alcohol and gloves are a must!
< Message edited by g_boxwood -- 7/25/2006 10:32:37 PM >
Pictured are the results of the doubling; a little messy as I mentioned but really strong. Next time I'll use thinner doubler, 1.5mm is a little bit overkill. Good to know.
Now I feel the two sections (cabin and nose) are better -merged- together: stresses from the nose gear are distribuited in the cabin section as well.
Original design lacked that integration but it wasn't a mistake: the way the fixed gear was designed provided what I reached through doubling for a fraction of the time and effort invested (not to mention weight and scale-look)! But it is fixed...
The retractable nose unit messed things up...
BTW, never told that but I'm not proud of having modified the hull that much to fit the gear; I hate what I was forced to do (less scale) but no other way to fit the retract...
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RE: Bernard Dumas' Canadair CL-215 - 
