F-105 Mobile Cradle
While the jet was on sitting on it's wheels on my table I discovered I could not insert the outer wing bolts through the spar as long as there was weight pushing the wing up and slightly off setting the holes through the spar. So I needed a cradle to hold the gear off the ground to get the wings on with the gear down and get the wing bolts in. I had planned on modifying my old Havoc cradle for the F-105 so now was the time to do it.
The Havoc cradle made it easier for the old fart here to move it around by my self so I planned on using it for the F-105.
The 105 fuse fit best with the nose in the Havoc tail slot on the cradle so I put it in to do some measurements. The Havoc cradle was designed so that each vertical was under a fuse former so it would not deform the fiberglass on the bottom. I thought I would have to move all the vertical pieces to align with internal formers so there would be support inside. Well to my absolute amazement there was a former exactly over each vertical support in the cradle. They were not just close but were exactly over each vertical support. I did not have to move anything. I still can't believe it worked out that way. All I had to do was to cut the supports to shape and get the fuse level and resting on each one. I'd rather be lucky than good any day!
I used a pattern maker to get the bottom shape
Shapes were transferred to a file folder pattern and then transferred to the cradle and cut out.
Same process for the nose former
A jig saw was used to make the rough cuts and a drum sander used to fine tune the fit for all for verticals.
The old padding was use for test fitting
Final product finished and waiting for a trip to the hardware store for some split foam pipe insulation for padding.