TWO MONTHS!
No, we didn’t go away. Life, including a record-breaking heatwave for H.G. in Alberta with no air conditioning, interfered with progress to be sure. But the fuselage window work has an “end in sight” look that I am sure you will see below.
The sheer magnitude of what H.G. is accomplishing here also accounts for the time. Except for the large cheek windows, which get their own treatment, each window has been vacuformed and custom-fitted to its fuselage opening.
H.G. is doing this both on the window openings
and on the windows themselves
to ensure perfect dimensions.
I won’t say that the above glass work is “perfect” because he is painstakingly evaluating each step
and making refinements as he goes,
even if this means taking out windows
and restarting
In this view, you can see that the front window on the nose roof is “standing proud” (and yes, I see the paper wedge in the rear)
but the point is that once installed in the proper openings the windows get their own detail work using tools like these:
I never even knew sanding sticks with some of those grits existed!
H.G. has also done some remarkable work on the cheek guns and brackets.
The cardboard gun brackets that my late friend Art made will now serve as templates for hand-cut brass brackets
and the fit of the cheek guns
with the windows is also looking good.
What comes next will be repositioning the pitot tubes per Karl’s suggestion, and then doing the glasswork for the pilots’ compartment, including open windows on each pilot’s side.
After that, I believe H.G will put primer on the completed fuselage, and maybe complete the nose including the plexiglass front piece. But I leave the order of construction up to him.
The time is coming for the wings to get attached, so we will relatively soon be in “final construction” territory.
So, stick around.