Scale Wendell Hostetler 30% PA-28 Cherokee Build

[TonyHallo]

The 3/4" tube arrived yesterday and the stab sleeve was made. West System 423 low friction graphite powder was mixed with the epoxy used to saturate the glass cloth. This tube will act as the stabalator bearing. Making up 6 foot long pieces of sheeting for each side, these will run from firewall to the tail post, once installed the stab sleeve will be installed. I then plan to flip the fuselage upright, complete the front sheeting and mount the cowl. Then I can make the final decision on the engine and cooling. thinking I may need to relocate the firewall.

 

[TonyHallo]

3" x 72" sheeting installed on both sides of the fuselage. Started fitting the stab sleeve and decided there was too much clearance. Made a new sleeve, light coat of Vasoline, one wrap of wax paper, three wraps of saturated cloth, a wrap of Cling Wrap, and cover with a piece of heat shrink tube, hopefully it will come off!
Ordered two 25' rolls of white Monkote, should be here next week, was happy to find it.

 

[TonyHallo]

Flipped the fuselage over installed top formers at F1 and F2 along with the stringers. Added additional sheeting on the sides while staggering the joints to the extend possible. Began sheeting top of F1 to F2.

 

[TonyHallo]

Apparently Lowes no longer sells Irwin clamps. found these Jorgensen clamps there yesterday while buying some plumbing supplies. Two nice features, the jaws are 1 9/16" deep verses 1 1/4" for the Irwin and the release is behind the ratchet level, occasionally the release lever gets in the way in tight places, I'll buy more.

 

[TonyHallo]

Got the left side of fuselage sheeted, working on the right side now. Started checking fit of the cowl and looking things over. The air inlets on the cowl have rather smaller that real radius in the corners as compared to the real deal. Thinking about doing some cosmetic work before opening the inlets.
Came up with a cooling scheme and at this point seriously considering the Roto 85 FS for this plane , it is about a pound heavier than the D&B 3.7 Twin that powered the original Cherokee.

 

[TonyHallo]

Still sheeting the right side of the fuselage. One more sheet to go and it will be back on it's back to finish up the bottom sheeting and mount the cowl. Began modifications to cowl openings, made a plug out of 1/4" plywood and used Glad Wrap for release. The inner curve is glassed from back side and the outers are filled with epoxy and microfibers. Hope the plug comes out!

 

[TonyHallo]

The fuselage is flipped over and the bottom sheeting is next up. The stab sleeve needs set as well. The heat shrink tubing on top of the glass layup didn't work as planned, actually had to machine the sleeve off!. I have what I believe is an acceptable bearing now. Once the sheeting is complete, the cowl will be mounted. The postman brought two 25' rolls of Jet White Monokote today, still need to source a roll of Sky Blue for the trim. Happy to find the 25' rolls.

 

[TonyHallo]

I noticed when the photo post went up yesterday that the Monokote said flat finish on it, went down to the shop and cut a roll open and ironed it on a scrap piece balsa, wasn't flat but not as shinny as I remember, found a roll of white in the covering drawer and ironed a test piece next to the new stuff. Looks the same to me. The backing is different than the old stuff and it doesn't have the Topflite Super Monokote trademark on the side of the film. Just happened to have an unopened roll of white in the drawer that was bought sometime ago, same number on the end, 1204 however the label is different. Anyone come across this before?

 

[-Rick-]

You are very lucky finding the 25 foot rolls of jet white. I was going to buy a few for my next build but could only find 6 foot rolls up here in Ontario Canada. It seems other people are starting to hoard them.
So far all the rolls I have bought are the same quality, maybe I'm getting older stock.

 

[TonyHallo]

The stab sleeve is installed level to the wing tube and square to the fuselage centerline. Still gluing sheeting on. Wasn't happy the way the cowl openings came out so did more photo searching, found this photo. Sloped both outer vertical lines, happy now.