Comment

Comment by Harvey Richards on November 13, 2009 at 8:28am

The extrusions that carry back from the front fuselage into the rear tend to push the side skins apart. The problem with placing the 7F13-1 gussets and drilling them is that the width is already set by the seat back which has been pre-drilled and must be the same exactly for everything to line up. I struggled also with mine.

Comment by Don Herbel on November 12, 2009 at 8:34pm

Thanks for the reply, Gary. I like the photos of your 701. I pour over the drawings continously and try to anticipate problems. I find that if I stay with the project on a regular schedule, I'm more successful in spotting those problems before the drill bit hits the metal. Have you painted your plane yet?

Comment by Gary Eady on November 12, 2009 at 7:25pm

Contrary to what the manual says, I built the forward fuselage first but still had issues with joining the 2 halves together and keeping everything square. I think from memory that the pre-drilled holes in the rear fuselage botton skin were about 10mm out where they fitted the undercariage channel. I had to redrill the holes (staggered) in the lower skin to get the necessary edge clearances. I gained a few grey hairs and the blood pressure soared to the red line upper limits during the joining process, I remember well.