Now let's talk about the Mustang II. Well, while waiting for the EAA Tech Counselor this last week, I went fuselage former crazy!
I was able to drill, debur, corrosion protect, and assemble most of the fuse formers. Each former has about 6 to 8 hours in it depending on how complex it was.
So, from bottom to top they are fuselage station formers, 114.75, 138.0, 162.0, & 187.5. These were all fairly straight forward. Most of the rivet holes were matched drilled & the parts were nicely formed. I completed these formers in about 6 days. 114.75 took about a day and a half. The zinc chromate (green) ones with the corner shear webs, I ended up making my own webs for. The ones from MII were a bit to small & the rivet holes ended up too close to the edge. (Not good!)
These are formers 205 & 209. This assembly is made up of about eight parts. Lots of measuring, locating the parts and where they go. The tail wheel & horizontal stabilizer attache to this assembly.
There is a very specific order of operations when assembling multiple parts like this. Any missed step and you can damage a part and make it useless.
Then you have to improvise.
My case in point. This is part #250.357, front fin spar doubler. The one on the left is from MII. I cut the large slot the elevator push rod passes through then I tried to bend the edges up 90 degrees. As you can see the part was a miserable failure.
The part on the right I cut from flat stock, bent the edges, cut the slot, then I used the plywood cut out and a hammer to shape the flange. It came out perfect. (Just needs a little adjusting.)
Tomorrow I hope to work on station 194.609. It attaches to the 205/209 assembly. According to the prints it looks like fun!
Next post I'll write about the EAA Tech Counselor visit.
Later,
Brain
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