Carlson Skunk Works

So, what have we been up to with Sawdust? At this point there is one piece of wood left to glue to the fuselage.

Last weekend Jeremiah wanted to help me with the airplane by doing something other than simply handing me tools or holding materials or helping me cut materials. So, I was at the point where we could start applying sanding sealer. He sort of likes to do that, so I turned him loose on sealing the fuselage starting with the cabin bottom.

So here we are. This is the picture that he didn’t want posted on-line because he didn’t think his expression was very good. Anyway, he is busy brushing on the sealer and he is doing a pretty good job of it.

As you can see the bottom of the cabin has the floor supports which are sort of like floor joists in a house. The plywood for the cabin floor is only 3mm thick which is about 1/8 of an inch. Jeremiah was concerned that plywood that thin would not be able to support us if we should stand up while in flight. Well, the cabin is not big enough to stand up in, so I am not worried about it.

The plane is still upside down. The last piece to be glued to the fuselage is a wedge shaped piece of oak that will be a support for the tailwheel spring. This is located at the far aft end of the fuselage on the bottom. It is 3/4 inch thick at the rear and about 1/16″ thick at the front. It is about 6 inches wide at the front and about 2 1/2 inches wide at the back. Once it is glued in place I will mark and drill some holes in it.

I will try to take more pictures this weekend and do another post next week.