After removing the clamps I checked the "square" of the frona and rear of the cabin area with metal squares. You can see the butt joint I spoke of joining the two Fuselage sides. Across the top of the cabin area there will be no further crosspieces added to provide acccess to the radio equipment. I am going to put gussets into each of those corners to reinforce the corners by adding rigidity and additional glue area. I will give more information than many modelers need about Gussets so you can tune out now, if you want.
a gusset is a piece of balsa (or spruce in this case) that is roughly triangular in shape that is glued into the corner of the the joint. It is vital that the grain runs from corner to corner. You may have seen the rigidity provided by "sheer webs" where the grain runs vertically to the spars. The principle is very similar.
The spruce Gusset shown above and at the left corner of the cabin area was cut from 1/4X1/8 spruce/ The grain runs lengthwise on this stick and I cut each end at 45 degree angle on the miter cut, flipping the piece to get the final cut. The result is a triangle that can be glued and clamped as shown below. Thos small spring clamps sure come in handy.
I hope to get on with the construction so that this becomes clearer to everyone.I hope this has been a useful detailing of the process for you. So far I have been very detailed about each step that I follow. I will start being less detailsed in order to get more construction done in less time. Send me an e-mail with any suggestions about improving this article or addditions (and subtractions) you'd like to see.
Ned Nevels nedn (at) napanet (dot) net.
You can place gussets all the way around the cabin area and in the aft area you can place them on both sides of the crosspiece.The weight added by gusssets is very small (unlesss you glue with epoxy and go overboard with the glue)and the rgidity to the structure is great.
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