So here is Day 3's accomplishments. Pretty much straight forward. I got the right side outer fuse side in place and glued in. Once again, I was very pleased with how everything lined up. Very minimal fuss in getting it placed.
The whole time I have been rebuilding the front section of this badly damaged fuse, I have been thinking to myself..."there certainly is going to be a loss in weight." Reason being, I will not have that huge heavy stand off block on the firewall any longer. As some of you may remember, I had planned the 3w212 four cylinder then decided ultimately on the 210csts. Because I cut the nose of the motor box to allow for the four banger, I had to build a stand off to sit the 210 on. Well, that is now gone and will "NOT" be cut again. LOL. Also, I won't have any of that heavy paint on the motor box/firewall area. I mainly painted it to make it look nice. But I also know it must have added some weight. Add to that, some modifications I needed to do to the fuse to prep it for a different setup. Well, with that being said, I pulled out my trusty scale and weighed just the partial front fuse section of the original assembly. Then I weighed the entire rebuild fuse. I was shocked and very pleasantly surprised to discover this plane is coming in much lighter than it was before. By my closest guess, It looks as though it may end up losing about 4 or so pounds. YES, I said POUNDS. I remember weighing the fuse before I installed everything. It came in around 11 or so pounds. The way it is looking, I will probably be at the seven or so pound mark. I am really excited about this development.
I spent the better part of the day checking all components for alignment and fit. Sanding, cleaning up the build and getting things ready for the last and final stages of this rebuild. With the bottom front fuse belly ready for sheeting, I decided to check the fit of both wings, canopy/hatch and cowl. I also added just a slight layer of balsa filler to clean up any imperfections of the sheeting. Oh my goodness, she is really coming together.
I am very pleased with the fit of the Canopy/Hatch. It really didn't fit the original front fuse section all that well. It did to a degree, but it was like the fuse was bowed down in the middle. leaving a slight gap. Not so much now. Man that baby is snug as a bug in a rug. Once I was satisfied with the fit of all the other airframe components, I got to work on the wing socket sheeting. Not nearly as intense and as difficult as I first thought it would be. The only part of this sheeting was, how am I going to get that balsa sheet to "bent" at the leading edge of the socket. Ah ha!!! A dish of luke warm water should do the trick. I dipped the two leading edge pieces of balsa sheeting in the water until they were soaked. I was then able to bend them to the arc I needed to get them into the wing socket. After that, it was all pretty much down hill from there. There is a lot to be said about pre-cut wood for an airframe. Locate, test fit, glue..that's it.
The last and final thing I did tonight was work on the belly vent. As mentioned earlier, I knew I was going to have to do a little work to get it to fit properly. This was the only part of the reconstruction that gave me some problems. For what ever reason, it just did not fit properly. So a little sanding here, a little re-adjustment there and "wa-laa".
Tomorrow I will finalize the fit of the vent, do a final light sanding on the fuse and get it ready for covering. I will re-string the servo harnesses before I start applying covering. As with the first time I recovered this fuse, I discovered how simple it was to do the wiring first then the covering. Three days from the start of the rebuild to ready for covering...that's not too shabby I think. I am so excited to get this big bird back in the air.
I am thinking I may take a short break to go do some Sukhoi flying tomorrow morning. I had planned to today, but really wanted to make some more progress on the Yak. Stay tuned everyone... covering and electronics and engine installation coming up very soon.