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BALSA USA 1/3 SCALE ERCOUPE CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS.... Construction begins.... 11/27/04
The Shop bench..... showing cowl, boxes full of wood under the bench, and main fuselage plans on the wall. This is where I laid out plans and did most of the cutting .....
The opposite wall of the shop - main building bench. Shorter bench, but lighting is better! Pegboard is great for hanging parts out of the way so they don't get damaged in the building frenzy! :-)
Wing panels and wing center section are built. Wing panels are readied for sheeting.
Wing and center section test fitting....
Wing tips roughed out - showing unusual tip shape
Wings sheeted, awaiting ailerons, servo mounts, and final sanding
Wings w/ ailerons and servos installed. Hobbyzone Firebird Scout shown for scale! Elevator and Horiz. Stab finished. Photo shows bellcrank assembly.
Vertical Stabs/Rudders assembled. These are sheet w/internal rib assemblies, not solid parts. They seem very small after the size of the wing parts! Phone shown for scale.
Starting to build the fuselage. Assembly is centered around a large "crutch", upon which upper and lower formers are glued. Very flimsy until the side sheeting is attached, so you have to be careful at this point when handling..... and make sure everything stays flat and true!
A jig is built to support the framework as it's assembled. This is a critical phase - two mistakes I made in hindsight - didn't build the jig strong enough, and I didn't build it on an open table that allowed access to both sides of the framework. I ended up removing the whole assembly and turning it around, which was not easy and required a great deal of care to not break the crutch, and assure that the whole thing remained true and flat.
All formers are glued in place, bottom temporary stringers are added to keep the crutch from bending and breaking at the window area. Next is the plywood cone sheeting....
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