reflection

[ivar hestnes]

Hello Eric

I would guess the base weighs around 60kg. And rest of the shell, maybe another 75kg. It is not heavy to lift when split up in the modules.



When you put together the shell it is very easy to make it so it can be split up. At the front windows, use 2 pieces of wood instead of one and dont glue them together. Keep them together with a clamp or something until it is safe to split the shell.

The strenght of my shell is because this is the way wooden boats are built. Glue make it strong.

Also in my covering tutorial you can pick up some good ideas to do this work. Some pictures there with explanations.

1. You need frames
2. you need to make the frames into a construction. Thats why the stringers are glued in place.
3. The covering. This is what makes the construction strong. 2 layers of plywood glued in crossing pattern. And lots of glue

My shell is mostly glued. The only screws that are still in place is for the roof windows and for some support pieces of wood. And the stringers are glued and screwed to the frames. All covering part is only glue.

Get as much information as you possible can find. Try to think 5 steps forward all time when you build. To avoid large issues. Take your time, 75% of making a shell is figuring out how to do it.

Hope this helps

[Tomlin]

Thanks again for everything Ivar! Very helpful.

[PaulEMB]

Eric,

I used similar methods, but the frames are cut from MDF, and the skin is one sheet of 1/8 plywood, very bendable - again, no screws, but I did use some pins from a staple gun, to hold until the glue dried.

This works well, and is very light - after all, all aircraft were made like this until the 1930s.
All sections, 2pieces each side, roof etc are bolted together.

I used a section of chipboard flooring on top of my bench, got the fuselage dimensions from the EMB web page, then marked out the formers using a bit of string and a pencil - simple, but effective. All cutting was done using a standard jigsaw.

Make some sketches, so you can work out where you want the sections to join, then just use a double former, bolted together, at each section join.

The weight of my shell is considerably more, mainly, as I miscalculated the floor height, which I changed simply by adding a new floor on top of the old one.

In theory it was made to fit thru a standard door, but I have to admit that I cant face the thought, so when I move houses, I will just move the whole thing on a flat bed trailer.