Building the Fuse

Here I will give a detailed step by step approach to building the Bristol





Step 1:



Lay out your Fuse drawing on your bench. Normally I like to use 3/8" or 1/2" drywall on top of my bench as it allows me to pin or nail into it easier. The other reason is that they come in 4X8 sheets which means no seams to deal with, unlike if you are using Soundproof Ceiling Tiles. I attach my plans to my building surface using Duro or 3M Spray adhesive. After that I use the spray adhesive on top of the plan sheet and glue clear plastic on top of it being sure to smooth out any wrinkles as best I can.



Here is a shot of the fuse Plans around the cockpit area to give you an idea of the plan. you can also see on the plans the metal fittings are shown in position and labelled to make it easier later as there are several similar shapes of fittings on the Bristol.



Step 2:



Next you want to set up your plans so that both sides of the fuselage will be exactly the same when you build them.

Every Person has their own preferences from pins to little blocks of wood pinned in place. I have come across what I consider the best option and highly reccomend it.

What I do is every 2" or 3" use 1" or 1 1/2" Wire Brads. I comepletely circle the outside of the fuse, and one side of all the vertical members. I then place my longerons and other framing pieces in place and nail a second set of brads in place.

The reason I prefer brads is because they wont bend like pins will. Also once in place they will not shift like pinned in wood sometimes does. Then I have 2 options after the first side has been glued down. You can either put a layer of plastic over top your first side poking the brads through it, and then build on top of the first. I occasionally do this technique.

The other option is just to slide the first side out from between the nails and slide in the parts for the second side. Due to the fact that we used brads they arent budging, thus no need to necessarily build over top the first half as your jig will stay the same for the second side.



Here in the next couple pics, I have started putting the sides together. You will notice I have left dangling ends. I will cut them off later and sand the ends of both sides together so that they will be even.



Here is another view. As you can see I used the wire brads to clamp the framework together.



And the finished nose section. As I work back in the frame, I need to insert the Lewis Gun Magazine rack now so that I cant have my framework together without any gaps. So far you can only tell seams because they havent been sanded yet.



And because I like to test various glues, I wont be using the Loctite wood glue I used last time. This time I will be using the new Gorilla glue. This isnt the same Gorilla Glue we are used to. This is Gorilla Wood Glue and doesnt foam up and expand like the other stuff does. This is more like my Loctite or titebond glues.



In the area of the last vertical, there is a lot of lines due to the attachment of the variable incidence stab bracket. The last vertical upright is lined up with the forward most line. The trailing part of the fuse has a triangular peice of 1/4 ply.



Another shot of the last vertical upright.



Here we are looking at the Spare ammo Holder. I forgot to add this at the time of my kit cutting, but it is 1 3/8" wide made from 1/4" ply.



And 2 shots of the rest of the side framed up.





Step 3: Building the Fuel Tank Holder



While Waiting for the fuse Sides to glue it is a good time to put together the Fuel Tank Holder. The top of this also can hold your engine throttle servo and also your battery pack and receiver. The bar clamps I am using are very nice and they come from Jerry Nelson at Nelson Hobbies. The fuel tank I am using in the photo is the DuBro 48 oz fuel tank.









Step 4: Mating the fuse sides



Ok guys now that the sides are all built and dry, it is time to mate the sides together. The first thing you need to do is to make sure they match up. I found the best way to do this is to take some electrical tape and tape the 2 sides on top of each other before sanding them.

The reason I like electrical tape is 2 reasons. 1 it is stronger than regular tape and as such wont rip on you while you are sanding on the 2 halves. Secondly electrical tape stretches. By stretching it as you wrap it around it tends to want to shrink back to original shape, thus acting like a clamp and holding the sides together tightly.

The one thing to be sure of while you have the sides clamped together is to trim the rear of the fuse so that they match. I was able to use my 10" chop saw to shave a little off at a time until I was happy as can be seen in the third picture.







I decided to start by making my hatch cover. Since I already had my side view on the board I just used the former lines on the side view to line up my formers. The bottom rails are made up from 1/4 x 3/8 balsa. I thought I had some on hand but was out so am using like 5/16 x 1/2 and will just sand down. Next I will add my 1/4 sq. stringers and sheet with 3/32 Balsa.

Since the top of the bottom half of the nose section is flat. while we have everything going here we can frame it upside down over the plans and sheet it also. There are 1/2" hardwood spars that run through all the formers and the rear of the nose section glues to the front former of the fuse so that is why we can do it all now.







Here is lower section of nose. as you can see it will have to be strip planked for a bit of it. But out of thick ca and kicker for tacking my strips in place til the order arrives monday. so I will be starting joining the fuse halves like I was originally going to do





Here is the nose section all put together with the hatch in place. Just look at all that room for an engine in there. The width is actually I believe 10" wide.









Now we set up for the fuse sides. Since there are a lot of guys out there that may be new to the hobby or just not have the resources to invest in having some nice jigs made I thought I would detail a cheaper alternative that works just as good as having special items made etc. The only difference is you have to just take your time with my method and double check everything as you lay it out.

In the first picture here you see the main brunt of my jig. it is an 18" shelf rack bar. You can get these in most walmarts lowes home depot what have you. They are really cheap too just couple bucks each and you should have like 6 of them in the shop as they come in handy.
I personally like the heavy duty ones as they are thicker material which means they stay straight. Here you can see I just screwed one of them down to my table across the leading edge of my fuse. This gives a nice straight surface to butt my sides to.

On my plans the former right in front of the fuel caps is where the rear half of the fuse starts.



Here I placed another shelf bracket on the outside edge of my fuse as this stretch runs straight.

Because I need cross members I use short sections fo 1" x 2" wood as "Clamps" to clamp my fuse side to the shelf bracket. You can put a lot of pressure against the bracket with the wood clamps and there is no way your fuse will move until you unscrew the clamps.



As you can see here once it is all clamped together the fuse sides will stand on their own and though you will have to stabilize them they stand pretty straight.





The First thing to do is to is lay town the Bottom Crossmember for the flat run. there are 5 of them. Use the bottom of one of the fuse formers to give you the length of the first 5 crsossmembers as they are all the same length. The first 3 top crossmembers go along the backside of the fuse formers as can be seen in the next 3 screenshots.

NOTE: The fuse formers will not go to the top edge of the fuse framework. they are recessed 3/32" so that the sheeting is flush with the fuse sides.







Here in the next couple photos I tossed the Nose section on the front of the fuse. because of the metal bar for framing it up I couldnt fully position it.






Now after we have the first 5 crossmembers in place and the front 3 fuse formers, I jump to the rear section and place my Elevator mount Board in place. After This dries I will insert my trailing edge of the Fuse. You can walk the crossmembers down the fuse if you like, I just like to get the rear board in place as I feel it helps eliminate any twisting and shifting of the fuse in the back.






I placed the fuel tank holder in 2 different positions for the next 2 photos. I did this intentionally as everyone has their favorite method of mounting items and this way the builder can choose his own location without having to alter any parts.






Ok I got my fittings pretty much cleaned up and painted here is a series of pics of the fittings so far. Once they are all on I have to add the 1/32 music wire bracing as the full scale used solid wire rod rather than braided cables. sorry for quality of some pics I wasnt using my tripod and was trying to get some close up shots.


























Ok I been asked about my bending machine so thought would post some pics of it in operation. You can get it for $29.00 from micromark. In the next few pictures I show me bending the bracket for the Landing Skid. In the first pic you will see the bender with the insrt piece on top of it which has 2 sizes of grooves for various metal/plastic thicknesses. you also can see the "V" wedge on the bending brake bar.






















Here are a few pics with the bracing wires in place










I am using 1/32 wire for my cross braces. So I found out that if I use a 2-56 rod to coil my wire it will fit in there nice and tight inside the coil I start by chucking up my 2-56 rod and some of that Jewelry wire you gett from some place like Michaels or Joann Fabrics. It is copper wire with nickel plating or something.




Next I drill a small hole barely big enough for the rod in a peice of scrap wood and slide it onto the rod




Next I drill a small hole barely big enough for the rod in a peice of scrap wood and slide it onto the rod

Next I fire up the drill and start Coiling. As I coil I keep the board against the coil which keeps it tight together. After I get my coil together I look at it under my magnafying glass light and using my xacto I count off 5 coils and spread it apart at the end of each 5 count. then I just come back and snip them off and throw into a container


I was just asked on a forum how I install my bracing wires so that they are taught and not floppy so here is how I do it.

ok I come up with a cool trick to make them tight and they literally SNAP into place. lol my wife was asking me for a while whats that sound as she was hearing them snap in the other room.

First thing I do is bend one end making sure I have a long enough tail to install the ferrule and bend it back on itself.

after that I slide the second ferrule onto the wire.

Next I hold the wire into the position of the second fitting.

My fittings have about a 1/16th inch between the edge of the hole and the edge of the ring for the outside of the fitting.

I place my pliers there and then bend over the wire which is around 1/16th of an inch or so short of the hole that I want to place the wire in.

I then feed the tail through the hole in the fitting and work it with my pliers etc through and it will eventually snap into place and be nice and tight without placing a lot of excess stress on the fitting. I then slide up my ferrule and finish off the bending back on itself.

It will take 1 or 2 to get the feel of how much is too much and how much is just right, but it is not all difficult.

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Please feel free to E-mail me or catch me on RcScalebuilder under the nick ProfLooney.