Fuselage

Work continued today on bending the longerons. I decided to try one more session with this bench vice and see if I can get through with this task.

Here's where I left off yesterday. The left longeron (upside down) is about halfway finished and needs more work.

After struggling with the vice and working carefully, I managed to get the bend in the left longeron finished. Here they both are, lying on the floor to check to make sure they're flat in the horizontal plane. I still have the steep downward bends on the forward ends to do, along with the twist called for in the plans.

Then I took some time to mark and trim the aft ends. I also marked, but didn't cut, the slot in the longeron for the vertical stiffener bars on the F-711. Finally, I started on the downward bends on the forward ends. I did the right one. I'll get a picture of it next time.

My vice has a crack in the base. I took it apart when the left longeron was finished.

This thing is finished. Maybe I can replace the bottom piece. The rest of the tool is okay and I don't see it being subjected to this kind of abuse again. If I had it to do over, I would definitely get a sturdier vice. This cast iron crap is cheap stuff. I would also get a vice that has two tightening bolts on the swivel base instead of just one. It needs a tightening bolt on both sides.

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