Cross Files

摘要

Many of us have built scale fuselages using the "keel and former" method where we lay down a top and bottom keel and glue half formers for one side of the fuselage. Then, we turn the assembly over and glue the formers for the other side. Although this gives us a lighter, stronger oval or round fuselage, it doesn't have the rigidity of the fuselage built on a square framework with formers added later. Since most glues shrink a bit as they dry, the first method sometimes yields the dreaded "banana" fuselage which now can't be straightened out. Garry Mansfield, from New Zealand, will soon have some neat scale kits to offer and, for now, tells us about his fuselage cradle. Garry builds one half of the fuselage first, then glues five or six 1/4-inch wide by 1/16-inch thick strips right across the keel at several places. The strips are then pinned into his 5-inch wide x 15-inch long cradle where he now glues the formers for the other side.