DonStegall

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Do you prefer wood over fiberglass? Do you need a straight Quickie fuselage that you can fit almost any wing to?

Back when I was prototyping the Smasher, I built the prototypes and the plug on a jig. Each one was virtually identical. I was able to try different wings. I drilled 1/16th holes on the thrust line at the formers before building the fuselages so it is easy to line up the wing saddle.

I never intended to sell the wood version of the Smasher. But there are people out there who want to try different airfoils or who prefer wood fuselages. So I am offering the Smasher in a framed up fuselage for $75. You can cut the wing saddle out yourself, or I can pre-cut the wing saddle to your specifications prior to framing the fuselage.

The composite tail will fit right on the wood Smasher. Or you can build any of the Smasher tail options.

slim56

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Don,

More info on the jig would be cool.

Ken

DonStegall

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Ken,

Do you want to see exactly how the Smasher jig is made? I have the working drawings. They are not finished for production purposes but they are what I used.

The jig is made from 3/4" MDF and the pins are 1/4 dowels. The pins are tapped into 15/64 holes after beveling the ends of the pins. The holes are drilled using a drill press so they are straight.

There are pins on the inside and outside of the fuselage sides at strategic points. Much like a graph. Then there are 3 pins at each former position.

The fuselage is built upside down. There is a fixture at the rear of the jig where the stab saddle plate is screwed down to. There is a fixture at the front to hold the firewall. The fuselage sides are allowed to float on the firewall. There are holes in the fuselage sides used to align the thrustline. In the wing saddle there are 1/4-20 flathead screws that can be raised or lowered to adjust the side alignment.

The technique is to laminate the fuselage sides with the doublers. Then slide the sides into the jig. with the stab saddle plate bolted down. Then bolt in the firewall. Then the formers are slid into place. Everything is aligned. The formers are CA'd into place. Then the landing gear block is epoxied in. Then sheeting is added to the bottom in-between the pins as much as possible to hold the shape. The firewall is then loosened up and epoxied in using System Three T-88 and microfibers. After that cures the screws holding the stab saddle are taken out and the fuselage is raised on the pins to where the rest of the bottom sheeting can be added. Take it off the jig and trim the sheeting and you have a straight fuselage.

I will take some pictures and add them to this message or to the thread.

GSJames

VERY Nice jig setup. THAT's the way to build a straight airplane! When I settle on a design (or do my own) I'll make up something like that. If the top of the pins was just a LITTLE bit shorter than the top of the sides, you could sheet one side of the fuselage while sitting in the jig and be "extra" sure that it will remain straight. Thank, Don!

DonStegall

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Thanks Gary. I actually documented all of this back in 2002 I think.

I probably will trim the pins if I get many orders. Shouldn't take long with a razor saw. Or a Dremel with a cut-off wheel.

What I do is sheet around the pins. Then I unscrew the tail plate and raise the fuselage enough on the pins so I can finish sheeting it while it is still on the jig, except for the tail area where the linkage is. It needs to be sanded out some for the ball links.

Here is a picture of an aborted fuselage. It was to be a plug. I don't know why I didn't finish it. I know it was to be a plug because the doublers were balsa instead of plywood.