It kinda looks like a plane

After a trip with Grant to Home Depot and Menard's to pick up a few odds and ends, I cut out the backrest, windshield support, and rear bearing support. A little work with the fuselage fixture and voila! - the beginnings of a plane! This picture shows things dry-fitted together.

A fixture

As I listened to the Vikings gut out a victory over Jacksonville, I built the fuselage holding fixture.


The workshop also demanded a good cleaning, so it got one. This is the "after" picture, in case you were wondering.

Thanksgiving Day

While the family was napping, I snuck downstairs and cut out the rudder and elevator.

Guess what - more dowels

Finished installing the 8 dowels on the left-side fuselage. Also, cut out the elevator reinforcement.

More dowels

Finished the dowels (there are 8 of them per side, if you're scoring at home) on the right-side fuselage. Drilled the dowel holes on the left side.

Doublers

Continuing yesterday's success, I got the left fuselage doublers glued and clamped. I also drilled the dowel holes into the right side doublers.

It's been too long

Being out of town 4 out of the past 5 weekends sure puts a damper on productivity. But with just a couple of hours of work today, I completed several steps:
- Finished doweling the nose plate and the bellcrank support.
- Finished the fourth and final fuselage bend.
- Finished sanding the interior fuselage sides where the cockpit will be.
I also got the fuselage and wing doublers glued and clamped into one side of the fuselage.