Test fitting the fuse. nothing glued. The back half locks together with elastics holding it together.
I dont like the way the fuse sides bow to the right. Even with the firewall, cockpit and other front end sheeting put in place its better but still bows to the right.
How best to keep the fuse straight?
Pull it inline as I glue it up?

steve

A Tiger 60 that flies in circles hands off! I'm kidding. Is it still crooked when you add all of the formers and such?

Edit: Guess you already said that it was still crooked. For what it's worth my 4* was the same way....but only to an extent and it was on the rear, I just messed with it before gluing it and straightened it out. Does the Tiger 60 not have any fuse doublers on the front?? I never built one so I don't know.

Looks like the fuse doublers are causing the bow. I used titebond. I'll leave them flat with weight overnight and see what happens...

When you glued the doublers did you clamp them and ensure they were flat when you left them to dry? You might also try wetting them with a water/alcohol mix before placing them under a weight. Make sure you give them ample time to dry under that weight.....like a few days. You'll should be able to get that bow out, don't worry. If worse comes to worse you can always go to your local hobby shop and buy the ply to cut out new parts using the old ones as templates. May be a little time consuming, but the great thing about using wood, it can always be fixed. Is this your first build?

I clamped the doubles but did not lay flat while drying as they had clamps attached. I didnt notice if there was a bow in the fuse sides before glueing the doublers.
Now I dont think it is the doublers as the bow is the same direction on both sides of the fuse. If it was the doublers causing the bow I would think they would bow in oposite directions. either towards the bow or away. That would have been ok as the bows would cancel each other out as I assembled the interlocking parts.

So I guess my questions now are,

1. Is this normal for a kit? I've built 3-4 kits years ago and never ran ito this. Defective? contact the Mfg.?
2. spray wood and bend slightly in oposite direction for a few days and monitor it. Why put alcohol inthe spray? (I can move on to the wing!)
3. Assemble as is and hope the interlocking pieces pull it straight?

Thanks for any advice..

Steve

Granted ,that bend is a little excessive. But, I would think alcohol & water & a couple of days laid flat with weight should take care of it . The alcohol makes the "water wetter" & will also make the mixture evaporate faster. I wouldn't think the manufacturer would do anything, one reason, it's a very simple fix. Some pieces of wood will bend one way or the other when exposed to humidity & heat. Just dampen the offending pieces, lay on a flat surface with heavy wieghts & let set for a few days. Go ahead & build your wing. Good Luck !!

I am thinking that if you build the fuse with rubber bands and install all the formers and top and bottom pieces, your problems might just go away. Be sure to lay out your top or bottom plans and build the fuse on top of the plans. If with all the parts installed using rubber bands and or masking tape, you should be pretty close to the plans. You may have to start glueing it all together from the front to the back. Good Luck, Dave

This is typical on a goldberg kit, but when you start gluing, note that the instructions say "make sure everything is straight before gluing) (I'm paraphrasing)

Lay the plane over the plans (with waxed paper between them) Make sure everything is straight, and tack-glue all of the joints. Once the joints have been glued straight, they will stay straight.

I've built three Tigers, and haven't noticed anything quite that severe. I'd be inclined to wet them down, put them on a flat surface under weight and then build the wing. By the time you're done with the wing, they should be sufficiently dry, and flat, to go ahead and finish the fuse. As MinnFlyer says, it shouldn't be a problem, just make sure things straighten out as you build it out. But if you can take the time to flatten them while you have other areas to work, why not? Just my 2 cents worth.

Tom

Fuse looks good now.
I wet down good and bent it in the other direction. Its much better now. I'm sure it will straighten up in the glueing process.. Thanks guys.


Steve

Tom, I also have an issue with the wing. when putting in the top spar it says to use the guage thats cut out of ply. The guage seems to be a 90 degree angle . This aligns the top and bottom spar... I would have thought the top spar would be a little shorter than the bottom and this would set up the dehidrle {sp} I checked the instructions and I'm useing the correct guide???? Why would they need to give me a guide if its a simple right angle...

It may be clearer to me when I get the the step of joining the wings????

Steve

That guide may LOOK like it's a 90 degree angle, but it's not

Must be, the angle is so slight. I'm sure less dehidlrel than my high wing trainers......I'll look at it again tonight.


Steve

I wondered the same thing when I was building my Tiger 60. I saw that the angle was very small on the gauge, but went ahead with it anyway. When it came time to join the wing halves on the jig, I had to sand quite a bit more angle into the wing halves to get a good fit. I wish I could remember what angle I ended up with to help you out. You might want to set up the jigs and figure out the correct angle ahead of time to save some sanding.

My Tiger 60 fuselage also had the banana look to it before gluing. I rubber banded all the formers in place, plus used a few clamps here and there, then placed it over the plan and used bricks to help force it straight. After that, the CA was dribbled on. The fuse came out straight as an arrow. I also have a Four Star Forty that had a crooked fuse and stayed crooked even after gluing. It still flies fine! Go figure.

I just finished a Mid West Super-Hots from plans. I don't know how it happened. Somehow the rear of the fus from the TE of the wing to the back of the fus ended up with almost a1/4" twist. I fought & fought it. Wetting w/water & alcohol w/ weights & couldn't get the twist all out. I ended up sanding the saddle for the stabalizer level with the rest of the plane & finished it. Needless to say,the maiden flight was a little scary, not knowing how it would fly. Well, it did just fine. No problems at all. I did double check the incidence on the stab. It was fine. I guess as long as the stab is"plumbed" w/ everything else & the incidence is correct a little twist don't hurt a thing !!