Originally Posted by
Timthetoolman1
It's too wide. To move the mount off the center line so the prop washer ends up in the center of the cowl with 2 degrees right thrust you must move the engine mount off center line.
I see. Ron's plans do show a pretty slim fuse. The engine mount he's drawn is also pretty narrow which allows it to fit. I guess you have two options: 1) make the FW slightly wider (I'd adjust the entire fuse so that the top contour doesn't change, only the width), or 2) use a rectangular adjustable engine mount such as the GP or CG mounts.
The lower part is actually balsa. We took Ron's Tiger Tail, that was sold to my friend here, and poked it with a needle and it is balsa. My other buddy realized he made a mistake.
I was playing with the plans just now and the material at the bottom of the FW depends on what type of nose gear one uses. His plans actually show a fixed gear and one can see the bearings attached to the lower part of the FW. If I were to use fixed gear, it might make sense to lower the ply to leave only about 3/8" thickness balance for the balsa cap. With retracts, the ply at the bottom is not needed as the unit is likely mounted higher up on to the FW or on a ply "tank bottom" plate. Ron shows a 1/8" balsa floor for the tank as he likely built these without retracts for SPA. To make the design flexible, it might make sense to lower the FW for fixed gear mounting. It has the side benefit of providing a "torque plate" for the belly mount retract plate. I like to integrate this last into the rear half of the FW 2-ply laminate - it just gives it that little extra rigidity.
David