RE: ZIROLI P-61 BLACK WIDOW BUILD
AT-6,
I'm sure the plans would be extremely useful for the conversion but it would take a lot of time to study the plans to know what changes have to be made (something the builder will have to do).
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Center fuse (cont)
The center removable hatch construction.
Formers F-6A and F-10A were clamped to formers F-6 and F-10 with 1/32" thick spacers between them so the hatch can be removed.
FWS-3 was then glued to all the formers between F-6A and F-10A and then stringers were glued on.
FWS-3 being thinner than 1/8", I put different size shims between FWS-3 and the formers to get FWS-3 flush with the contours of the formers (which will make sheeting much easier and stronger).
Formers F-8 and F-9 had 90 degree corners, and after looking at my VQ P-61, I rounded over those corners with about a 1/2" radii.
One side of the top of F-9 was also a little high so I sanded the former to align with the other formers.
pic 1:
F-6A and F-10A clamped to F-6 and F-10, respectively, with 1/32" thick ply as spacers.
FWS-3 then glued/clamped to the formers.
The front end of FWS-3 contacts FWS-2 and the back end has a 1 1/8" space between the two pieces.
pic 2:
the kit came with sixteen 1/8" thick by 4' long balsa sheets and a ton of stringers.
pic 3:
The waste from the last stringer is butt glued to the next stringer and a short piece is also CA'ed on the joint, so I don't have a hundred pieces of useless short pieces of stringers at the end of the day.
As I mentioned before, I used to be called cheap; now I'm environmentally friendly!
pic 4:
I use a razor saw with no 'back stiffener' to get between the two formers to get an exact length stringer cut.
pic 5:
I cut new stringer slots in F-9: the slots were off about a 1/4" and I saw no reason to put 'undo bends' in the stringers!
I also put some pen lines on F-8 and F-9's top corners to round them over.
pic 6/7:
F-8/9's corners rounded over.
I also so no reason to burden myself trying to bend balsa sheeting around a sharp corner!
A detail sander made quick work of the corners and lowering one side of F-9 to align with the other formers.
pic 8:
Acid brush works nice to remove/add carpenters glue in those hard to reach areas.
pic 9/10:
These small builders clamps come in real handy to clamp things in tight spaces where there is no 'close' place to put the other end of the clamp (as in holding a stringer under tension as you can't use pins because all the surrounding surfaces are ply).
pic 11:
A cut off wheel was needed to enlarge some of the slots on the formers so the stringers would fit.
All stringers were made flush to the former contours to insure a good bond when sheeting.