I had been concerned about laying out perfectly straight edges for the bottom of the fuselage, but then I realized I have a 12″ straight-edge in the form of left over .032″ sheet.

I used it to guide the olfa knife for about 3-4 passes.  Then since I am paranoid about having a nice, clean break on such a major part, I did several more passes for good measure.  There was plenty of room on the sides to cut out blanks for many of the Z channel pieces.  Unfortunately I keep confusing .025 and .032 parts and cutting blanks out of the wrong size aluminum.  It seems like I will still have plenty of material left over.

Here is the fuselage bottom lined up with the edge of my work table.

I bought a 30″ Harbor Freight brake and have been using to make the .032″ channel parts for the fuselage.  I’m planning on building a 8′ brake for the longer bends, but I am kindof wishing I had got the 36″ brake for a few slightly longer parts.  The brake also doesn’t seem to bend quite far enough to make a true 90 degree bend due to spring back, so I end up having to add a wooden block after the initial bend to get it the rest of the way.

I have also cut some more larger pieces of .032″ sheet metal–the cockpit floor and the glare shield.

Started cutting sheet metal parts for the fuselage.  Here are the sides of the forward fuselage.  I ended up using a nibbler to cut the holes.

I used an Olfa P800 laminate cutter to score the cut lines.  I was able to snap the parts out right on the lines.

Here is a form block I made.

On top are the parts I formed with the form block and underneath are a few parts I cut out along with some scrap I practiced using the hole cutter on with a hand drill.  I decided not to try this on the fuselage sides and ended up using the slower and safer nibbler method.

I thought it would be fun to try scratch building the fuselage.  Since I have already made all the aluminum angle components, I am thinking I might be able to have something beginning to resemble an airplane without too much effort.  We’ll see how well this idea holds.

Wicks seemed to have good prices on aluminum sheet, but said shipping for 5 sheets of 4’x12′ would be around $100.  I found a local company L. Miller & Son, Inc. with similar prices but no shipping charge.  I did end need to pay around $50 in taxes, but I would have needed to pay that on the other order anyway (Alabama wants you to provide proof you paid sales tax on the airplane).

I was concerned about getting 4’x12′ sheets to fit in the back of the van.  Everyone including myself seemed skeptical that they would roll, but they rolled easily and I used a ratcheting strap to keep them that way.  This is what 3 sheets of 4’x12′ .025″ and 2 sheets of .032″ look like rolled up in the back of a van.  It’s not nearly as impressive as it would be unrolled.

This would not work without the “Eagle Scouts” bumper sticker.