I posted something yesterday, but its not here. Maybe I didn't publish the post?
I'll try again...
Cockpit Tub is complete and other cockpit parts are ready for fitting.
The two bulkheads that frame the cockpit "tub" are now part of the entire tub
and I will slide the entire assembly into the fuselage from the rear opening before I attach the next fuselage section..
Since I am not good with edge gluing parts together, I added thin paper strips to hold everything together.
By wrapping paper tabs around everything, it made for a quicker and easier assembly, and stronger cockpit.
...
The cockpit tub is solid but is now a bit too big to fit into the fuselage.
I'm not exactly sure why, since the paper strips are very thin and it added less than .5mm to the diameter of the bulkheads.
I had thought about this, thats why I pre-cut the bulkhead formers inside the printed lines to make them smaller.
But the tub is still way too tight and it sits too high in the opening.
So I applied a bit more glue to the seams inside the cockpit 'tub' and I sanded down the bulkhead formers and all the edges of the 'tub'
...eventually it will fit into the fuselage. I'll make it fit!
And then...the other part that is the side rail edges of the cockpit opening
is way too narrow for the tub...about 1mm too narrow!...maybe another byproduct of the oversize 'tub' I don't know?
So I have added a second layer of printed part that folds over the sides effectively making the part another .6mm wider.
It should help fill in some of the space.
...
The Instructions say to "Install 4c into upper edge of part 4."
4c being the small crescent shape former part,
and #4 is the fuselage section at the front of the cockpit opening.
But there is no indication as to exactly where to fit the part 4c
...should it be way underneath?...forward? back? straight up? angled?
It appears as though it might sit at the front edge of the Side Rails.
So I glued it there (to the side rails).
Is this going to cause me trouble during installation?
...
I dry fitted everything I have assembled so far...I'm still unsure how the instrument panel and cowling will fit,
but it looks like everything is coming together.
My adjustments to the size of the tub seemed to have worked and I will be able to pull the fuselage tight
and get the side rails glued up properly within the opening.
Please tell me if something is way wrong here.
...