Download - The Fly Baby Home Page

16. With the side plywood panels glued in place, install the panel assembly in the fuselage by
gluing the portion of the side panels below the 3/4" square cross piece to the forward side of
the 1" x 3/4" beveled cross piece "A" installed in Step 12 and Figure 1-19. The ends of the bow
should be beveled to accommodate the forward slope of the panel.
17. Make quarter-round gussets of 3/4" plywood for the intersections of the bottoms of Stations 2
and 4 with the fuselage sides. With half-round 1/8" plywood gussets (Type "B", Figure 1-4)
already in place, the curves on the 3/4" gussets can be made by tracing around square blocks
held in place in the corners. Glue the 3/4" gussets in place by clamping against the 1/8" Type
"B" gussets (see Figure 1-17). These 3/4" gussets serve as supports for the inside landing gear
anchor fittings.
FUSELAGE BELLY STRINGERS
The two full-length belly stringers are fuselage structure, but for convenience of doing other work,
should not be added until the inside is varnished, all equipment is installed, and the fuselage is
ready to cover. Because the stringers are deep and narrow and take a significant curve at the
forward end, each stringer is laminated in place from five thicknesses of 3/8" square wood. This
can be spruce, redwood, fir, or pine.
1. Glue two 3/4" square anchor blocks to the back side of the firewall as shown in Detail "B" of
Figure 1-22.
2. Start building up stringers with 3/8" square strips. The bottom two will be full-length from
the firewall to Station 9. The second one will be tapered after others have been added per
Detail "D", Figure 1-22. See Figure 1-17 for spacing in the cockpit area and Detail "C" of
Figure 1-22 for method of attachment. First strip can be laid down by nailing and gluing
directly to the fuselage cross pieces.
3. When stringers are built up to full depth, use a plane or drawknife to taper them from Station
5 to Station 9, ending up with one full thickness per Detail "D", Figure 1-22.
4. Use scrap wood to fill in triangles between the stringers and the longerons at Station 9 per
Detail "D" of Figure 1-22 and do the same at Station 2 using wood at least 1/2" thick between
the stringers and from the stringers to the longerons. These will became the forward anchors
for the belly fabric during covering.
Page 1-28