FUSELAGE:

As you can see from the photos, I used Titebond to glue the thin ply doublers to the balsa sides. If you haven't gotten the message yet...DON'T DO THIS unless you have a complete set of encyclopedias to use to keep them pressed in place...then still don't take the risk. [8D] In all seriousness, my doublers weren't all that bad, but it took additional gluing, and it was irritating. Use a drier method.

The fuselage pieces fit together very precisely...it was a pleasure. The doublers automatically set the angle for downthrust and sidethrust. Be certain you glue the correct doubler on the correct side, (and for that matter, the inside of each fuselage side)...nothing like realizing too late that you have two "left feet". I added the bulkheads to the right side, and left room for triangular bracing for each bulkhead...it's what I do..I think it provides more strength.

There is nothing fancy or difficult in these steps. Personally I added pieces of extra bracing here and there as I saw fit. You may or may not want to do the same. Here are a few additional points you might want to think about:

1) Draw a centerline on each bulkhead to help insure that the fuselage is straight. Jeff provides holes on the fuselage sides to help with the alignment. I didn't personally use them.
2) One thing I DID do was to use the small wing dowels provided to make sure the doublers are accurately aligned, (see photo). I found this worked pretty well for me. There is nothing quite as aggravating as not having the wing dowels precisely fit the alignment holes later on.
3) I used cross braces across the fuselage top and bottom to provide some additional strength/ridgidity.
4) As Bill already stated, the best time to drill all your firewall holes is BEFORE it is installed.
5) Once you get the bulkheads in place on one side, build upside down on the flat top surface of the fuselage. The fuselage is joined at the tail, (and cross braces installed), after the primary bulkheads are all set up and dry to make sure nothing gets out of alignment.
6) When it came time to join the fuselage halves at the rear, it appeared to me the fuselage was a bit short when bent to join. I added an extra piece of balsa at the rear as the picture shows to get the proper length. This also provides a nice surface for the rudder hinges to anchor to. I may have the most "beefed-up" rear joint of any Simla in existance.

Because I didn't cut out the elevators after building the stab, but instead built them up conventionally, you can see where I needed to add a small wedge of balsa at the rear of the stab cradle. I HAD to build my elevators separately because the stab ribs were too short in the prototype, but if you should choose to build your elevators separately, this is the procedure you'll follow to fill this area. It all works out the same in the end.

For you beginning builders...nothing to it...right? Just take your time and make sure everything is straight and aligned. More to come.

Duane