ORIGINAL: Nieuport nut
Why is this being sheeted with 1/32'' ply? Surely 1/64 would be quite adequate - lighter and closer to scale, (2mm?)?
Yeah, at the moment it's really nice 0.8mm birch ply (1/32"). I think I'd be worried about the durability of 1/64 ply, which would however probably do the same structural job, and would save maybe 100g. And, course, that would be weight saved in the tail.
At the moment, I'm pondering the question of how to make sure I get a good "no glue" stained and varnished look both on the inside and outside of the ply. I've been VERY VERY careful so far with glue but I haven't figured out a way to glue on the doublers without making a mess. Options were discussed on the first page of this thread, including pre-staining with water-based stains (which doesn't look very good in my opinion). Maybe that would be a good first step to help reduce the need for touch-ups later over "white spots." I really want to use varnish/lacquer, but need to be a bit strategic about when this is done.
Two cosmetic issues that need to be address now are 1) some way of "hiding" former F4a (which holds the lower tier of servos) and 2) a nice hardwood dashboard to go over the face of former F4 (which is at the scale location for the dashboard).