Sethhunter

Hi everyone!
Tom - beautiful magazine and great column as always. Very nice to see all those Pfalz models. I hope Dan's will be flying again soon. His interference problem (at last report anyway) was prompting me to think more seriously about spread spectrum. BTW - I'm also enjoying Skyways immensely. I wonder if anyone has built a model of the Gee Bee Time Flies - that's a slick looking airplane. Alan - thanks for the gyro suggestion. I wouldn't have thought of that. I usually put in some expo to have the extra throw on demand, but the gyro idea is intriguing! I hope you got my email about the docs you sent. Thanks again - the details will be useful when I flip the "crate" over and get back to work on the "office"!!

Here are a few pictures of recent progress and unfortunately Alan, lots of compromises!

I don't recommend installing a firewall after the fuselage is built, but here's how I managed. I first checked that my nose ring was plumb using chaulk lines. Then bolted a plate to it, and the engine to the plate. I mounted a plate on the engine standoffs and used it to mark the fuselage, and put marking lines on the plate so I could reproduce a template that matches the fuselage interior. The pictures show bits of the process. Since I couldn't fit a firewall into the plane in one piece, I laminated it up using three layers (two 3/16 and one 1/4 ply), each layer in two halves, with the split alternating vertical and horizontal. Then put in some heafty ribs to tie it into the landing gear sub-bulkhead, and stringers, and increase bending stiffness. Also tabbed the structure into the fuselage shell with fiberglass. (The photos show the marking plate glued into a a plywood sheet to mark out the shape of the firewall. This is just to get a flush surface to transfer the points - I wouldn't use a glued-in piece like this in the final firewall!!) The final engine opening, while big, is cropped closer to the cylinder than some of these pictures suggest.

Since the rear carb pushed the fuel tank back slightly into the radio compartment, I made a light-ply tray to carry the tank so any leaks would drain forward of the radio compartment (also put weep holes in the bottom of the fuse to prevent pooling of fuel). The tank-tray has a top on it that I strapped the receiver battery to. The tray bolts to the firewall in front, and the radio bulkhead in back. The ignition module and battery will be below the tank. Hopefully the batteries are separated enough to prevent noise pickup. The carb extends into the plane of the firewall, so I built a well around it again to keep fuel out of the airplane.

I made engine standoffs out of PVC, and mounted to it a bellcrank for the choke linkage. The link is manual, and extends out the bottom next to the inverted pitts muffler. The standoffs also hold the inside ends of brass tubes that guide a screwdriver to the needle valves deep in the airplane.


I ordered a 7x12 mini-lathe and carbon fiber so I can start on the spinner. TOOLS!!