01/05/2011 - Turning over the canoe

At last with the help of Bob and Bernard the fuselage could be turned over :-)

It looks so much different the right way up.  I also built a stand/trolley for the front, which stands 16" high so I can still get underneath if necessary but much lower to the ground so I can lean over or get in it without steps !

The next stage is levelling the aircraft up and making sure there is no twist in the fuselage.  This took a while to work through as you play to tease out tenths of a degree.

The next stage is important to get right because once the rear plate is drilled and riveted on any twist in the aircraft will be permanent. Care needs to be taken that the half moon bulkhead is aligned correctly so its does not stick out from the side skins and positions such that it takes as much twist out as possible.  All could actually be done by hand with the use of a few clamps, mainly because I had not set the longeron rivets here yet for the reason of being able to easily twist the tail straight.

The spacers also had to be made and the 3rd picture below shows one of them in position.  Then its just need riveting down into place.

A quick check shows still reading 0 degrees :-)

With the end of the day and Bob and Bernard had returned home I decided to do what countless other builders have done before, I place the floor pans in and a few cushions and sit in the fuselage for the first time.  Great feeling and yes I did make engine noises and just might have hummed the theme tune to 633 squadron