Time to get to work! I "finished" the plans and printed them before I deployed for the Summer. Of course with three months in Iraq, I had plenty of time to think of more changes that had to be added. So one more new set of plans and off we go.

First off, the fuselage.

All of my parts are hand cut (well, I do use a bandsaw along with a knife, so mechanically assisted hand cut). I print an extra set of plans to use as templates. I cover the wood with strips of masking tape and then I use contact cement to glue the plans to the tape. I cut everything out and sand it to shape. Prior to removing the tape, I mark all of the centerlines by sticking a pin through the plans into the wood. After you remove the tape, you are left with bare wood in the shape of your part. The only problem with this method is the paper and tape only likes to be sanded towards the wood, otherwise the paper bunches up a bit and you lose your line. I am thinking next time I might try some iron-on sheets you can put through the printer.

The formers forward of the wing trailing edge are all 1/8" lightply while the aft formers are all 1/8" balsa.

One thing to mention, I built the prototype in my 30' by 20' shop with a build in paint booth that was in my old house. My new work space is a 10' by 6' space in the garage...and no paint booth. This may make may already slow pace come to a crawl. I really miss that shop!