Thank you, everyone, for following along!
Progress..
I made this jig to hold the fuse straight while I put in the cross members down toward the tail. It was a football shaped wooden cutting board that came with a gift set. At least its been put to better use.
Test fitting the tail. Looks okay. I got almost all of the misalignment out.
Now I am at the point where I need the cowling to match up the forward fuse sides to.
I decided to try the most challenging machining job I have ever done - to machine the cowl from aluminum. It will be difficult because it should be very thin.
I started with a 1.5" thick aluminum bar, and started whittling away. I cut off a lot of metal! I made the curve of the cowl using a file and just eyeballed some photos of the plane. Getting the inside of the cowl curve cut to the right radius for consistent thickness was pure guesswork - the engine has to fit all the way in the cowl and the prop needs to clear the front of the cowl.
This is the second setup. For the first setup, the cowl was turned around and the inside was cut out first. Since the cowl was so thin, it had to be supported on the inside when chucked up.
After some lathe work, I moved to the mill to cut the cooling slots. I don't have to unchuck it to put it on the dividing table for milling.
Fortunately, I did not break any of the small milling bits - an accomplishment for me!
After a little clean up.
Completed cowl with engine mocked up.
I also made seatbelts out of masking tape and twist-tie wire. Needs a little weathering.
Still continuing with the fuse.
