RE: ZIROLI P-61 BLACK WIDOW BUILD
Back to the black widow!
Center fuse (cont)
formers F-9 to F-12, wing mounting blocks and FWS-2 installed.
I installed formers F-9 to F-12 along the back of the crutch.
After putting in F-10, fortunately, I put that stick to check top alignment and F-10 was a 1/4" too high.
I took F-10 off and checked the plans and the former was cut incorrectly.
I used F-10A as a guide to draw a new line and removed the waste.
I checked the bottom and all was aligned OK so I knew the top had to be removed.
I'm glad that I put arrows on all the formers indicating which way was up as I glued F-11 upside down: again, just after gluing it so it was a quick and easy fix (carpenters glue gives that 'time' luxury).
I figured it was now a good time to epoxy in the front/rear wing mounts.
This was a good time as it was a lot easier sanding them to fit between FWS-1 and FWS-2.
I then epoxied in FWS-2 (FWS-1 goes on the inside of formers and FWS-2 goes on the outside. FWS-2 was also epoxied to all the formers as well as to the wing mounts.
To insure the two wing supports were level, I weighted two paint sticks along FWS-1 and, then, epoxied FWS-2 to align with the paint sticks.
The back end of FWS-2 did not reach F-11 (as it suppose to do) so I glued a small piece of triangular stock to F-11 to bridge the gap.
When dry fitting FWS-2 to the notches in the formers, the ply was not aligning with the edge of the formers and I had to add some filler ply between the formers and FWS-2 to get alignment.
I found out why: like buying today's 3/4" thick ply: it's not really the thickness stated.
The 3 ply stuff is narrower than true 1/8" thick 5 ply aircraft plywood: another reason why it's so weak!
pic 1:
my 3 blade 3.3" FW-190 spinners came in from skyshark.
These are the closest that I can find for a P-61 spinner (must not be too many people building P-61's!!)
pic 2:
F-10 was 1/4" too high before trimming.
pic 3:
F-9/10 installed.
F-9 is in two pieces and glued 'in place', which is necessary since it can't slide along FWS-1.
pic 4/5:
F-11 upside down in the first picture.
Those arrows saved me!
pic 6:
F-12 done.
This is the back canopy so most of the former will, later, be cut away.
pic 7-12:
Wing mounts sanded to correct contour and epoxied to FWS-1 and formers.
I made sure the tops of the mounts were aligned with the top of FWS-1.