Hello again! I'm cruising right along and should finish just in time for my self imposed deadline of August 23rd. (First flights to be Sept 15/16th)

Filling and Sanding:

Nothing too exiting about this step, just hours and hours of sanding then filling, then sanding some more. I know I'm using a what looks like a ton of filler, but what remains after sanding is very thin. It is also very easy to create knifelike edges on the hull which should aid in water release and help this beast get on step sooner.




Main Cabin Hatch:

I drew up the front windows then used chartpack tape to dial in the lines. I made a paper right side that I flipped to the left to transfer the lines, then went to work with the dremel.




Wing Fillets:

I love the rounded wing fillets on the Albatross and recreating seamless fillets with removable wings was a bit of a challenge. After several passes with more filler, and scoring it before it fully cured, I was able to get the wings to mate with the fuselage cleanly. [link=http://www.stef.com/Albatrosspics/update 8_10_07/wingfillet.mov]Here[/link] is a video of the wing half sliding into place.






Fuselage Windows:

I cut out the rest of the openings in the fuselage. Aside from the side windows I also cut out the nose hole which will give me access to my video camera, and the lense window for my digital camera.



Float attachment:

I started to flush out how the floats attach. I decided against the magnet idea for the floats because I had visions of my floats dropping off the wings after a bounced landing!
I installed tongues that stick out of the wing an inch and a half that with the floats. There will be an inconspicuous screw on the side of each float to hold it on.



All together:

Well this is a view of most of the big pieces together. I have some more finish work of priming, filling, and sanding to do on the fuse and wings, but I should be able to start the riveting process in a couple of days.



Until next time -stef