Dave Smith/Tom Martin 1/4 Scale Hall Cherokee Build

[ingrahal]

Progress report:

The bottom keel, formers and landing wheel are done.

I didn't like the laser cut keel that came in my kit. The rear of it was squared off and didn't allow a good attachment of the wheel well opening. So I cut a new one and extended as seen here.


I glued in the balsa formers J-O. I used the bottom stringer and plywood keel to establish the position of the wheel well opening. Problem was the keel was too low. Then I realized the keel had to be spaced 1/4" off of the cabin floor. Then the bottom stringer, wheel well opening and keel formed a straight line. Wish I had realized this before I cut the new keel.


Then I cut the wheel well sides from 1/8" plywood.


After drilling the holes for the axel I glued the sheeting to the sides and glued the wheel well to the opening. Here it is glued in place with gussets bracing the sides. I had to notch former H for clearance because I located the axel holes slightly higher than called for.


Continued on next post.

[ingrahal]

Update continued:

I glued in the 1/8" ply keel braces. These were not included in the short kit and are not accounted for in the materials list. I added it to the list on page 1.


Next was the 1/4" balsa braces on the rear of the wheel well.




That's all for now. Just a couple of minor details and it's on to the wings.

[Dion Dunn]

Looks really good Art. My workbench is filled with a plane in the finishing stages, so I'm itching to start cutting wood again and you're not helping.

[ingrahal]

Thanks Dion!!! What can I say? I love the building as much as the flying. Sorry to torment you but our heat index hit 116.7 deg. F at 2 PM today so building in my air conditioned shop was the thing to do.

I have one more small tidbit to show you guys. I got the landing skid made and the mounting blocks glued in. I made the skid out of 1/16" X 1/4" ply and the blocks out of bass.




Unless I'm forgetting something I'm ready to start on the wings.

[ARUP]

How was wheel fairing made on full scale?

[Dave Smith]

What wheel fairing?

By the way, the problems Art found with the keel were rectified on the 1/3 scale version, almost exactly as he has done on his build.

[ingrahal]

Hey Michael, here is a couple of photos of Dean's plane. The wheel well opening (base plate) serves as the axel mount and the surface in which the covering attaches. So the wheel well is covered and the lower half of the wheel is exposed. The model follows the full scale very closely.

Dave, thanks for confirming that my changes were correct.

[ARUP]

Yes... the wheel well base plate... thanks! The photos here will be a great resource along with rest of build!

[Tom_nichols]

Nice job! Im building the 1/3 version and starting to slowly make some progress. Will be doing the same scheme also. Keep up the great work. Heres a pic of how far i am.

[lenb]

Nice work Tom!!

[Dave Smith]

WHOA! Art, looks like you have some competition for N72DG!

DS

[Dion Dunn]

Art, we are having withdrawals. Update, update, update!

No pressure....

[ingrahal]

Sorry guys I had to stop work on the Cherokee to attend to another project. My fiberglass river boat needed some major work done on it. It's done now I can get back to the Cherokee.

Tom, your 1/3 scale looks great! Nice shop too! Keep us posted on your progress.

Dave, Yes definitely! He is ahead of me. I'll have to get crackin!

Dion, hang in there I'll have you a fix soon.

[ingrahal]

Question for Dave or Tom, are the holes for the wing rod in ribs R1-R3 designed for 2 deg dihedral? In other words should R1 be tilted in 2 degrees?

[ingrahal]

Update:
Ok guys I'm back at it. The boat project took so long I'm going to have to hurry to get this done before Huntsville but the wings are well underway now.

Laying out the leading edges, sheeting, spar caps and trailing edges that have to be scarfed together.


On stock 3/4" wide or less I can use this jig and the disc sander to cut the scarfs.


On anything wider that 3/4" I have to use a straight edge and X-ACTO knife. The grid on the cutting mat helps keep things straight while cutting and gluing.



From right to left: Leading edge, sub-leading edge, sheeting, spar caps, aileron leading edge, trailing edge, trailing edge carbon fiber.


Update continued on next post.