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I anticipate having lots of pictures on this page so I will be using thumbnails as links to larger, more detailed pictures. This should decrease the download time of this page so you don't waste a lot of your time waiting for large pictures to download that you may not have any interest in. Just click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture. For those of you returning I have regrouped some of the pictures into pages of subassemblies to save download time of this page.
To install my jig blocks I made these little blocks of wood. There is one size for each size of tubing. To make them I put a notch in the center of each piece on the ends and sanded them down to the correct width. The "F" is to indicate the front of the fuselage. That way if there is an error in the center notch, as long as I put the "F" toward the front of the fuselage the error will be consistently to one side.
Here  I am trying to illustrate how I line the notch in the center of the block with the tubing centerline drawn on the table. I then place both jig blocks on the sides and screw them in. I think installing the blocks this way reduces the chances of having a bunch of measurement errors when laying the fuselage jig out. A lot quicker too.
This is what my fuselage jig table ended up looking like.
This is what all of the tubing required to build a skybolt looks like (except for the .75 x .035 which is on order). This was before I organized it.
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This is a picture of my completed landing gear truss. For a series of pictures and explanation of the construction of this truss click here.
This is a picture of the back seat rudder and brake pedals. For a series of pictures detailing their construction click here.
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While waiting for my tubing that was back ordered I decided to go ahead and
cut and fit the tubing for the front half of the fuselage sides. Here are some
of the steps I took to cut and fit the tubing for the uprights and diagonals.
After I had cut and fit a couple of diagonals I used them to mark the diagonals and uprights prior to cutting. The tubes used for marking the diagonals and uprights are long enough to fit in the jig blocks that would hold the longerons. 
I took my pencil and held the exposed wooden part (the part that shows after you sharpen it) parallel to the tube I was using as a guide.
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Then I drew a line along the tubing onto the tube I was preparing to cut.
After marking this is what the upright / diagonal I was preparing to fit looks like. Now I cut right along the pencil marks and with just a little filing the joint is fit to the longeron.

I call this my ugly stick. It is what I made while practicing my scarf joint and rosette welds.
Here is the scarf joint and rosette weld on one on my longerons.
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Here the lower longerons have been spliced and bent ready to continue installing uprights and diagonals.
Here is what the side looks like with all of the tubes cut and fitted.

To see some pictures of the joints prior to tack welding click here.
Here I am drilling small holes where the uprights and diagonals meet the longerons. I will fill the fuselage structure with a corrosion preventative later and these holes will allow the fluid to travel through the tubes.
Here I am tack welding the uprights and diagonals to the longerons on the first side.
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One side done, one to go!
After tacking both sides I am getting ready to start working on the top and bottom crossmembers. Here I am checking the square of the device I am using to hold the sides in a verticle position.

Here I am clamping a piece of wood I have cut to the exact dimensions to hold the upper longerons (actually the bottom longerons of the airplane... you build it upside down) the correct distance apart to get the correct centerline to centerline measurement.
Here is a left front view of the fuselage clamped and ready for more construction. I will begin making the crosstubes both top and bottom back to the point where the fuselage bends in to the tail post. 
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Here is the view from the right front. I'm getting a lot of use out of that one piece of wood!

The view from the right rear.

 

Here I am checking the flushness (is that a word?) of the crossmember at Station 0 to insure it is flush with the upright.
Here I am checking to insure the upper crossmember is flush with the top of the longerons. It must also be checked in the front.

Here I am checking the squareness of one of the cross members prior to tack welding.

Checking the square in the other direction to insure it is not canted.
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Checking the landing gear truss for verticle alignment to insure it is parallel with the firewall.

 
Heating the upper longeron (the bottom longeron of the airplane) so I can bend the sides in to the tail post. All of the cross members back to the stations immediately in front of the bending point have been tack welded into place.

My son and I preparing to bend one of the sides in to the tailpost. Heat is only applied to the inboard side of the longerons.
As I continued to alternate heating the upper and lower longerons my son gradually and gently pushed the side in toward the centerline of the aircraft.
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After bending the fuselage sides I began installing diagonals in the forward portion of the fuselage. This is a picture of the cluster at station 0 - 0. To see more pictures of this cluster from different angles click here.
This is the handle / crossmember at stations 24 - 30. For a sequence of pictures showing the construction of this assembly click here.

After bending the fuselage sides in I needed a way to hold the upper longeron still while I cut, trimmed and filed it to fit the tailpost. I stuck the longeron through the hole in this board and clamped it tailpost to hold the longeron steady while working on it.
This is a back side view of the same board holding the longeron. There is a 4" X 4" board mounted under the table which clamps onto the tailpost to keep it verticle and keep it at the proper height. 
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After getting the longerons to a close fit....
I mounted these boards to the table to maintain the tailpost in a square in both directions in the vertical position for final fitting of the longerons.

After fitting the longeron to the tail post the last of the side diagonals can be fit to the tail post also.
Here one side of the diagonals have been completed and the construction of the second side is begun.
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Just a closer view of the joints at the cluster just in front of the tail post.
Here is a picture of the lower ends of the same tubes.

Here I am checking to insure the tail post is vertical before tack welding the longerons and cross members to it.

Looks pretty level to me.

 
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All of the cross members tacked in place and tacked to the tail post.

Yep, there are two sets of crossmembers here. They ended up aligning pretty well.

This picture shows how the longeron looks after I heated and tapered the end to the tail post.

This is a view of the right aft side of the fuselage with all of the cross members tacked in place.
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CONFESSION NUMBER 1... I made my first (and hopefully last) major blunder. In my haste to build or perhaps my inattention to detail I installed 2 diagonals in the wrong direction. The plans state that the view of the fuselage is from the top. For some reason it didn't click that since the fuselage is constructed upside down all of the diagonals in the floor and top should be in the opposite direction from that shown in the plans. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the internal diagonals that are also installed (which I installed in the correct direction... of course). This combination concentrates all of the support to one side instead of distributing it to both sides. I have decided the best way to remedy this mistake is to add tubes to make the upper and lower diagonals in this location into "X"s. This will increase the support to the opposite side longerons (and, unfortunately, add a little bit of formerly unnecessary weight). I spoke to Hale Wallace and he confirmed this would be an acceptable remedy. My reason for confessing this is so you will know DON'T DO IT THIS WAY! Since someone may use my page to figure out how something goes I want everyone to know that the following pictures are not per plans and I will show the remedy as soon as I have it installed. They did say this is supposed to be educational didn't they?!

This picture shows where the internal diagonals and the diagonals in the upper structure (the bottom of the plane) meet on the same side. They should be going to opposite sides.
The internal diagonals are installed correctly but here you can see how I have installed two of the upper and one of the lower diagonals in the wrong direction.
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This is the view looking down the center of the fuselage. In this picture both upper diagonals are in place.
This is a view of what will be the aircraft floor from the firewall back.
This is a view of the bottom or the fuselage a little farther back
This is the view looking at the bottom of the fuselage from the firewall back.
To see pictures of the way I mounted my fuselage for final welding click here.
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Here is a picture of my completed tail spring mount. For pictures of the steps I took to make it click here.
The top longerons' centerlines don't intersect the tail post centerline, they intersect the outer edge of the tail post. Because of this the longerons have to be closed up in some manner. I elected to weld a small strap from one longeron to the other which should also strengthen the longerons' connection to the tail post.
As promised here is a picture of the modification I had to make to compensate for my screw up mentioned above.
And finally, the fuselage "box" completely finish welded. Now for all of the other pieces that go on and in it.
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Here is a picture of my pitch reverser. For pictures and an explanation of the steps I took to make it click here.
Here is a picture of my walking beam (elevator idler arm). For pictures and an explanation of the steps I took to make it click here.

Here is a picture of the front landing gear / flying wire fitting. For pictures and an explanation of the steps I took to make it click here.
Here is a picture of the rear landing gear / front lower wing attach fitting. For pictures and an explanation of the steps I took to make it click here.
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Here is a picture of the lower wing aft attach fitting. For pictures and an explanation of the steps I took to make it click here.

This is a picture of the rear seat. It is one place I made a modification from the plans (which created the need for another modification, of course.... neither of them structural though). To see how I did my seats click here.

These are a few of the components I built that make up the control system (the stick part of it anyway). To see the steps I took to make ALL of these parts and put them together click here. Fair warning though, it is a long page.

Here is a picture of my landing gear almost finished. For a looooong page documenting the construction of my landing gear click here.
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This is a picture of my completed seat. Click here for a page showing how I put it together.
This is a picture of part of the tail. Click here for a page that shows construction of the tail plus the elevator and rudder flight control installation.

This is a picture of the cabane. Click here for a page showing how I built it.
To mount my brake master cylinders I made two little tabs to support it. The square tubing in the middle is just to hold it parallel and keep the spacing while welding it on.

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This is the master cylinder after the tabs are welded on and the (temporary) pins are installed.
This is how I mounted my rudder springs. I didn't think there was enough room between the pedals and firewall so I installed mine to work beneath the pedals. l am not sure yet if this is the final spring that I will use. I need to experiment with different tensions.

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This is a picture of how I made the pedals adjustable a-la Acro Sport II. I will have the forward sheet metal installed on a piano hinge so these will be easy to get at to change the settings. No, that isn't the final rudder cable. I have a real one on order. Works to play fly though!

Here is a little device I came up with. I wanted a gust lock for the elevator and ailerons. I didn't want one that you could forget to remove and kill yourself due to loss of aircraft control (sadly this has happened). I installed a bushing in the stick to stick pushrod and welded a bushing on the top and bottom halves of the control collar. To lock it down you just move the stick sideways until the rod drops into the torque tube, then move the stick fore or aft until the rod drops into the stick to stick bushing and push it on through. If you should ever forget to remove it you can do so from inside the cockpit.

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This is a picture of the throttle quadrants I made for my airplane. The one on the right will go in the front cockpit and the one on the left will go in the rear cockpit. It just goes to show you what can be made with a jig saw, a drill press, a hand file and a WHOLE LOT of elbow grease. Both quadrants are pretty much the same except the front quadrant doesn't have any friction. Of course after I built the first one I came up with some ideas for improvements.

This is how I mounted my battery. If you want to see how I did all of this and what that funny thing on top of the battery is just click here.

This is one of the side formers on my plane. To see a tool I made and how I formed and attached them click here.
 

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This is a picture of the floor that will be in my plane. It is a pretty short page for now because I'm not finished with it yet. To see what I have so far click here.

Here I am beginning the installation of my fuel tank. This is another ongoing project. To see what is completed so far click here.

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Here is something that is completed. The installation of my stringers. Actually, it really isn't complete because I haven't installed the bottom stringers yet but the sides are done. I have some more designing to do because I am going to vary from the norm a little bit here. To see the side stringer installation click here.

The turtle deck is almost complete (lots of stuff in progress isn't there?!) I am ready to rivet it together as soon as I figure out how to do the headrest. To see the progress made so far click here.

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This is the beginning of the formers for the instrument panel mount / coaming support. I am drawing the curvature I want onto the poster board to make a pattern. I will use this to check and see if the former is the right shape.

Here I am checking the fit between the longerons. I will probably also use this pattern when it comes time to make my instrument panel.

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After I bent the former I checked it against the pattern to make sure it was the right shape. A little adjustment here, a little adjustment there....  This stuff is really pretty easy to work with and bend in small increments. See the stringers page if you haven't looked at it to read how I made adjustments. The flat spots (missing flutes) are where the shock mounts for my instrument panel will go.

After I got the two formers tack welded on (the front seat headrest former and the instrument panel former) I checked to make sure they were level so my sheet metal will lay flat. This work will have to wait until I get my engine mount and firewall to make sure the lines are straight.

Every now and then (actually quite often) I get sidetracked. I was thinking about how all of the rudder pedals in planes start looking bad after the paint gets worn off. I also was thinking about how badly they might rust if you got in with damp shoes after the paint was gone. My solution was to get some stainless steel tubing and cut it in half to make protectors. Of course I had to polish them up before I put them on. They are just held on with epoxy so if I start feeling guilty about the extra weight they can be taken off. I had better watch it, I see those ounces starting to add up (doh!).

Here is something that I thought about one day when I got sidetracked. It didn't even add any weight! I was thinking about how I could dress my plane up to make it stand out in a crowd. I thought... I wonder how this thing (my tailwheel mount) would look polished?

Looks pretty darn good to me. Now I'll have to find out how much trouble it will be to keep it shiny after I start flying. I may have it clear powdercoated or anodized.

I figured if that looked good why quit there. I might as well make everything that gets looked at look really good so I went ahead and polished my tailspring. I may change my outlook on this in the future.

 

Here it is all installed. Let's just see if I can keep it looking this good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the sandblasting tent of death. One week while I was working it rained inside my shop due to the high humidity and rain we were having (no heating or cooling in my shop.) I was completely shocked to find surface rust all over my fuselage. I had small spots of rust before due to sweat or just touching it although I was keeping it oiled down. I just kept removing them. This was much too large a job for the way I was taking care of that so I decided I would go ahead and sandblast my fuselage and prime it with cheap primer to keep the rust off. I am using cheap primer because it can be removed with MEK when I need to weld somewhere (lots of welding left to be done) and then I can just clean it up and reprime it. Once I am completely done with ALL of the welding I will remove all of the elcheapo stuff and prime it with epoxy primer. This project was the project from down under (not Australia). Due to my small compressor I would spend 5 minutes sandblasting and 10 minutes waiting on my compressor to fill back up. I must have swept up the sand to reuse it a hundred times (actually I replaced the sand every now and then.) Just sandblasting it took me a week. Hard to get into some of those clusters and a lot of the sand misses when you're just aiming at little tubes. That is part of the project that just isn't too much fun but has to be done. An excellent respirator and face shield are mandatory for this job. If you want some tips on a sandblasting tent just let me know. Time to move on and do more work.

Construction slowly continues...
check back later for future updates.