Seat

I decided to make up a proper seat and not just sit in the sling seat as per design. The reasons were to assist in moving my center of gravity backward. The sling seat, apart from being uncomfortable and having no structure, also has no appeal. It took some time to get it to a shape I was happy with. Comfortable as well as low. It is more reclined moving my CG back countering the slightly bigger engine, and the fact that we have introduced a tubular engine mount.

The Beginnings of the Seat Plug

Bonding in the side supports.

 The Side supports are structural stiffners, holding the shape of the seat bottom and spanning between the front and rear spars. they will also conceal the rudder and elevator cables.

The Plug out of the Fuselage looking ... well Plug ugly!

Perhaps not pretty, but actually quite comfortable.

The Headrest and shoulders need some attention

I had to add tons of micro to get symmetry and a shape I was more happy with.

Fixed. With slots for the seatbelts

 I added sloping shoulders, and slots for the seat belts. Also cutout for the joystick.

Primed and in

Checking fit in the fuselage before painting and mould making

Painted and ready to make a mould

 I didn't get rid of every lump and bump, as the final product will be getting some plush upholstery

Chop strand and Polyester mould.

Alex testing to see if he could make use of my plane

 I made up the Removable Backrest and headrest insert first so I could get a perfect fit into the seat
I vacuumed the layup onto the mould as I used a 4mm oneycombe core

The completed backrest and Headrest insert on the mould.

The headrest insert on a 5mm spacer.

 The 5mm spacer under the headrest is to compensate for thickness of the leather upholstery.

The seat layup being vacuumed.

The Layup of the seat was done in 2 stages. First the UD glass and Glass cloth with patches of Nomex HC. The Backrest and Headrest insert can be seen.

Out of the Mould.

One layer of 280gm glass cloth on the underside.

The front of the set. You can see the position of the UD Glass

 The UD Glass can be seen in the seat base and up the sides of the seat. The headrest also has a reinforced rim. Behind the headrest and hidden by the rim there will be a 4130 steel roll over tube.

Rudder Pedals.

The Rudder Pedals I welded up from 3/4 035 4130 tubing. There is a vesconite hinge bush pressed into the lower tube. The mounting is to be on a 1/8inch Ply floor.

The Joy Stick

 The Joy Stick dimensions are based on the Joy Stick I built for my KR 2, but a sort of half version.
We could have opted for a side stick arrangement, but I enjoy a center stick. We are also a bit bigger than Ken Rand, and so found a side stick to cramp what space we do have

Fuel Tank.

 I welded our fuel tanks from 0.9mm Aly. They fit quite snug.

Fuel tank rests on the top longerons

Empty weight of the tank

Weight of tank filled with water to calculate the exact volume

2 pretty tanks (39 lts)

Main Spar

2 sets of elevators and rudders. Remember I said I convinced Russell to build, well 2 aeroplanes are in the making

Joystick mounting box

Drill jig for drilling the bolt holes in the wing spars. Really quite simple, and works a treat

Noonoo checking the canopied

Wing Attach Fittings for the main spar.

This is how the drill jig works

Main Spar set up with required dihedral. 16ft wingspan. That's All

 

It's ALL about the Lines

James hiding behind the fuselage to give me an idea of canopy height

 Everything must look just right. There is very little excuse for an ugly aeroplane

Cowl split down the Center Line top and Bottom

 The cowl fits so snug over the motor, that there is practically no space for camloc's down the side, hence the decision to split along the CL. It also allows for a very pretty cowling.

 I spend an enormous trying to get the Lines perfect. Fortunately there is no deadline :)

Added the turtle-deck.

 The Turtle-deck was made in a very simple sheet metal mould. It is a section of a cone, so the sheet of galv metal was just bent into a plywood box, with a semicircle cut the size of the fuselage in either end.

Cowl and Engine Mount

The Old engine case used for testing the rear aluminium mounting plate.

 The Aly Mounting plate is dimensionally a copy of the Limbach motors mounting plate.
Russell (Lucky man) Has the Limbach which we used while building the cowl plug.
The central white mount is for a Magneto. I am still debating if this is the way I should go.

Engine mount. Note the position for the rubbers.

 This was decided on to reduce the load on the rubbers and therefore their deformation. As they have a bigger footprint, a softer rubber can be used and so transfer less vibration to the fuselage.

Mounted on the Fuselage without firewall

I stuck a piece of pipe in the case to get the position for the cowl

The cowl screwed in place to check fit

Plug

ready for fairing

lots of imperfections to contend with

underside showing the extension of the fuselage lines

filling local low spots

almost ready for paint

primed with spray filler

looking pretty good

Stunning in black

Just before making the moulds

Me Happy..... Very Rare ;)