Comet
Sailplane Project
I decided to take a break from working on
the pylon this morning and do something a little different. Installing and
removing equipment in and out balsa hatch openings always takes it toll on
the edges with lots of dents and dings. So I use 1/64" plywood to line the
ends of the hatch openings to protect the edges as well as the ends of hatch
covers themselves. The picture below shows the front face of aft hatch
opening used to install and access the radio equipment. Notice the ends of
the barrel planking strips around the top of the cover's balsa bulkhead.
In this picture, you see the piece of 1/64"
plywood that has been glued to the front face, trimmed, and sanded to
contour.
This particular shot shows the front end of the
forward hatch cover also lined with 1/64" plywood.
Going back to Report No. 39, the picture
below showed how the stringers tied into forward planking using fillets on
either side. Notice the 1/32" (+) gaps on either end of the aft hatch cover.
Here you see aft radio hatch installed after both
the opening and cover have been lined on both ends, which nicely fill the
two gaps.
Finally, this shows both the fore and aft hatch
covers installed completing the bottom of the Sailplane
fuselage..............................Tandy
