Based on the design variations, I’m moving on to the actual planning and start to blueprint the nose. If possible, it is supposed to give the aircraft a semiscale appearance and that means I basically have to start from scratch.
In order to create parts repetitively and precisely, the blueprinting is going to be computer-assisted. In theory I could draw on paper, scan the diagrams and print them. However, I would lack the 3D preview and applying adjustments is going to be much more time-consuming.
The greatest obstacle to me is to get a grip on FreeCAD. What’s a “degree of freedom” again?! It takes several hours and as many tutorials until I understand the basic principles and the most important workbenches. And as a first sample for my new skills, I tackle frame No. 6 from the original drawings. It connects the nose with the rest of the fuselage.
![Frame 6, copied from diagram and then adjusted.](https://zamit.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Spant-6-2021-03-17-1024x576.png)
Since it’s shaping up well, I make some adjustments for my semiscale nose immediately. I don’t want to use balsa chamfer strips which are sanded into a round shape. Instead I have a curved planking in mind, supported by stringers.
On these adjustments I have to spend another whole evening, but they pay off. From here on, I can insert some basic stringer drafts into my model. Frame No. 5 follows up swiftly, again with some adjustments for the rounder shape.
![Based on the draft stringers the new frames for the cockpit come about.](https://zamit.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Nase-2021-03-21-1024x576.png)
However, the design stays somewhat box-shaped. This calls for a switch in strategy: Instead of adjusting the original fuselage’s rectangular frames, I’m testing the ellipse tool for frame No. 4. This costs me yet another whole evening, until I know all the wrinkles of constraining ellipses.
At any rate, the result seems to work. So from now on, I’m turning away from finishing single frames in a precise manner because that is to make the third or fourth step before the first. After I know that I can draw a frame completely, I roughly draft the nose’s whole length.
Naturally, my hand-drawn stringers don’t fit anymore in any way for these ellipsoid frames, so I’m using the ellipse tool in order to hint an outline for the nose’s shape.
![A new belly stringer is in the making, this time using the ellipse tool.](https://zamit.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Nase-2021-03-212-1024x576.png)
This ellipse is trimmed down to a cut-off, which gives me a good template to place the apices.
![Based on the ellipsoid belly stringer, the new frames are dimensioned.](https://zamit.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Nase-2021-03-213-1024x576.png)
As one can see, the nose’s new belly is quite a bit lower than the original one. So, next up, the belly stringer has to curve upwards in order to connect to the fuselage. After that, I will redraw the original frames 5 and 6 with an ellipsoid shape in order to adapt them to the nose. Thus I move alongside the nose forward and backward, while converging on my envisioned design.
Next time, the fuselage is up.