The process continues: Removing lots of foam, creating a gross outline of the individual areas, transitioning and then smoothing it all out.  I started from the rear half and moved forward.

I started this step mid-morning, and tried to stay in the shade not just because of keeping the sun off the foam, but because it was pretty darn hot as well.  I worked well into the late afternoon and slowly nugged my way through this beast!

The fuselage bottom is made up two pieces of 1-3/4″ thick Divinycell foam micro’d together, then shaped into a boat, or football, shape.  Although my fuselage is shaped a little differently than the plan’s shape, it really doesn’t matter with the steps used to figure out the outline of the fuselage bottom.

The fuselage assembly is simply turned upside down and the fuselage bottom is placed on the bottom (which is now the top) of the fuselage and positioned equidistant from each side and abutted to the front bulkhead F22.

Once the fuselage bottom is in place, it’s weighed down to conform to the shape of the fuselage bottom.

Then I climbed up underneath there with a Sharpie and marked the outlines of each compartment.  Then the weights came off and I followed the dimensions spelled out in the plans to create the marked up areas that will be formed into its final shape.

With the mark-ups complete, now it’s time to actually cut out the outside shape of the fuselage bottom.  Once I got the outside shape cut, I took it outside to start getting all that foam out of the marked-upped areas.

There are specific depths for each area, and obviously all the transitions need to flow together smoothly.  The process definitely takes a bit of time, and it does get fairly messy with all that blue foam!

Santa strikes again!  Today I got the whole EZ-Noselift Kit from Jack Wilhelmson.  I also ordered the front wheel pivot assembly, wheel and tire as well as the Landing Brake Actuator system.  The parts look high quality and were packed very securely.

Ok, obviously by just the fact that I’m building an “experimental” airplane hints that I like to experiment, at least a bit.  I thought quite a lot on how I wanted my instrument panel to look.  I wasn’t sure exactly at first, but then finally I figured I would make the top layer Carbon Fiber on the front face of the panel to A) Add stiffness and B) Add coolness.  I ordered some CF in my last Aircraft Spruce order and after it came in, I assessed it one last time and decided to pull the trigger!

After another few discussions with some experienced Canardians familiar with the old glory days of the Cafe Races, I decided on another modification.  Now I’m sure this  may very well elicit some groans and ha-rumphs, and maybe even a few mutterings of how crazy I am, to put it politely.  I decided I was going pulley-less and running my rudder cables from Point-A (rudder pedals) through a curved conduit that traverses through the centersection spar, makes a semi-shallow bend and heads to Point B (rudders).  No fiberglass strands will be hurt in the making of this modification, just merely slightly separated at the holes in the foam so that glass strength and integrity is still in tact on the centersection spar.  So, no pulleys means that I don’t require the pulley brackets, and thus no “ears” on the firewall.

Once I finished cutting the ears off the firewall, I could get to glassing it (and laying up CF on the instrument panel).

After a couple of discussions with a few members of the “Old Canard Guard,” including one of my building mentors, Dale Martin, I decided to pull the trigger and switch from MGS 335 to MGS 285.  While the epoxy itself isn’t that much more expensive, the slow hardener incurs a hazardous shipping penalty usually on the order of $45 per quart.  Yes, that’s on top of the cost of the hardener and the normal shipping fee!

So why did I switch?  Well, primarily safety.  After reviewing Gary Hunter’s Do’s & Don’ts of Epoxy Resin, I decided I should go after an epoxy that gives me the highest Tg.  I was already using the MGS system, so I was familiar with the system.  Plus, I’m moving to Germany in late July for a couple of years, so after a bit of research I’m fairly certain I can buy the MGS where it’s actually made and pick it up in bulk quantity ala Sam’s Club style.

Also, for the remainder of my build tasks here, I was also able to find a company in California to sell me two quarts of the fast hardener for  the $45 hazardous shipping fee.