THE FUSELAGE

The fuselage is built up like a plastic model with a left and right half made of a fiberglass sandwich. To ensure a straight alignment, the two halves are temporarily fixed to each other before being removed from their molds. The holes made for this temporary fixing, will then be used when the halves later on are permanently joined together.

Other main fuselage components are:
- Main Bulkhead
- Cabin Truss
- Cabin Interior
- Instrument Panel with Glare Shield
- Rubber Nose

FUSELAGE HALVES
Fabricated in a left and a right mold fixture prepared so that the outer surface of the halves is more or less ready for painting. There is an outer skin, a core of rigid PVC foam and an inner skin. The number of skin layers and fiber directions vary, reflecting the force environments in the different parts of the fuselage.
The foam thickness also varies from 10 mm in the FWD to 5 mm in the AFT part of the fuselage.
In areas where the halves joint with other fuselage members such as each other, bulkheads etc., the inner and outer skins join without foam in between. Small ridges in the molds create grooves in the outer skin indicating where the halves should be cut through to make hatches, removable engine nacelles etc.

MAIN BULKHEAD
Made of 1 mm (0.40”) 2024-T3 Alclad with various stiffeners and doublers. Is riveted to the fuselage halves and serves a multiple role as fire wall, cabin aft wall and ceiling, engine mount attachment, landing gear and lower wing strut pylon attachment and also attachment for the aft seat occupant’s safety harness.