August 9, 1997

- FOUR STROKES!!!
- The Tail Section is Finished
- The Fuselage Comes off the Building Board.

The Do 335 and I steal our moments together :-)

It's starting to look like an airplane now, and I've committed to putting four strokes in it. For those of you who have never heard twin four strokes in flight, let me tell you, it is a religious experience! The first time for me was when a club member built a P-38 powered by two OS .46 Surpass engines. The sound that thing made on a low pass, it was enough to make your heart skip a beat! It was almost as big a thrill as the first time I saw a naked woman (OK, not really :-) I'm putting a Saito .90 in the nose and a Saito .50 in the tail.

FOUR STROKES!!!

My new Saito .50 mounted on my testbed plane, a US Aircore .40. I am breaking it in and flying it in the same orientation it will be mounted in the Do 335. My main concern is whether it will need on-board glow.

This is the rear firewall, modified to accept the Saito .50. One thing is clear, the plane will be heavier! The engines are heavier, the supporting structures are heavier, and some workarounds will also cause extra weight. One such workaround is the connecting rod that drives the upper and lower rudders - which will now have to have a rectangular bend in it go go around the backset firewall! Postscript - the bend in the rudder connecting rod turned out to not be necessary.  it happened to go just between the engine and it's mount.  Only one hole had to be drilled in the engine mount.  What luck!

The modified tail section, with a hole cut into F20 to accept the backset firewall, which *just* fits between the firewall braces. Note the protruding ends of the crutch.

The new firewall in place. Notice that alot of F20 and the left firewall brace will have to be cut away. I'm a bit concerned about this but I'm sure I'll muddle through it somehow.

The rear cowl in place. Trimming and fitting it turned out to be pretty easy.

The Tail Section is Finished

The completed tail section with rear cowl in place.

The tail section from the rear. It's starting to look like something!

The Fuselage Comes off the Building Board

The fuselage as it stands now. With the 1/8" sheeting in place on the upper fuse, it can be removed from the building board. Once off the building board, the 1/16" ply lower frames are glued into the slots between the formers and the crutch. The lower formers will now be glued over these frames. The forward firewall is just temporarily set in place, I haven't glued it yet. It will have to have a backset firewall like the rear engine to accept the Saito .90.

A better view of the 1/16" ply frames.

Here's a view we couldn't see before - the bottom of the upper fuselage.