Fuselage – Frédéric Zamit

Fauvette: Left Fuselage Half

Why use sanding paper? A small plane is faster and less dusty.

My website hasn’t been updated for over a year and a half now. But today, finally, there is something new. I rarely worked on the Fauvette over the past year, but this summer I regained my enthusiasm and found the time and energy to make further progress.

The left fuselage half which is the first major assembly module is now largely complete. I struggled a bit to produce decent fuselage stringers because I wanted to save money by ripping them myself from pine. The result isn’t perfect, but the fuselage is structurally sound, and I managed to achieve clean contours where the planking will eventually be attached.

New Construction Report: Fauvette

Fauvette - the original and with kind permission by Hilmar Lange

Since I reengaged into model flying, I’ve been looking forward to a bigger glider. And all the while, I wanted to build from scratch. The Joyrider was a first test for myself: Would I have the skills and patience to build an aeroplane?

There were several ideas and attempts to build such a glider, but they failed for various reasons. But then, I was lucky to meet Hilmar Lange from Münster who was kind enough to demonstrate his Fauvette. My enthusiasm was huge, the diagrams were printed fast and then… life took over. However, in winter 2024 enough time and motivation were available and now Fauvette is under construction.

Hilmar has really put a lot of time, love and effort into the diagrams, not only do they contain cut-out templates for all required parts, there are also illustrated instructions which accompany the building process. On top of that he’s released a 3D-model of the model on his website, so one can watch at the model from any imaginable perspective to clear out any uncertainties. Chapeau, Hilmar, my utmost respect for this commitment!

Spin: Covering and R/C Fitting

With the finished priming the covering can commence. I like to use Oracover because it’s really easy to work with and yields very good results. I always start with the easiest parts in order to get re-used to the task. So first up is the rudder.

…and one can easily spot that I managed to fuse the foil in the recesses. In this case I was lucky and could get them apart with some additional heat, but often enough one has to start over. With due warning received, the ailerons come up next. On the left side of the pictures some creases are still visible, which will disappear in the last step which is heating up the whole area.

Spin: Fuselage and Wing

The leading edge is glued in rib by rib.

After examining the kit for the Spin construction starts swiftly. The construction manual reliably leads step-by-step through the phases. There are no blueprints and they aren’t necessary because all parts fit into each other like a 3D puzzle. First off, the fuselage.

Thermy 4: Planning the Fuselage

Preliminary Frames for the second nose draft, complete with motor and mounting.

After drafting a first version of the nose, there’s work to do on the fuselage. So this week, it’s going to be a lot of frames to draw.

Joyrider: Covering

The upper wing's mounting, the undercarriage's mounting and the seatback are finished.

After the details are finished I can finally focus on the covering. Some model builders seem to regard covering as an irksome work and necesarry evil, but I actually enjoy it. To me it’s like a metamorphosis: the bare framing of the aicraft, as pretty as it is, equals a caterpillar, which is yet to become a butterfly.

Nonetheless it’s a lot of work all the more if one wants to get a creases-free result. In the process, I didn’t manage to take a lot of pictures, but I’d like to give an example and point out some crucial points.

Joyrider: Last Details

Upper and lower wing are now linked with each other.

By finishing the linkage the out-fitting has come to and end an I can take care of the last details. Those cover two areas: the fuselage and the wings.

The fuselage needs a couple of maintenance hatches in order to easily gain access to the drive unit, and the tailplane’s servos and fixture. The fuselages’ belly needs to get reinforced, too. And last but not least I’d like to add some details to the nose.

The wings need an additional strutting in order to stabilize the lower wings. And it will surely add to the good looks.

Joyrider: Nose

After framing the fuselage, the nose had to be tackled. This was the first time my skills got stretched to their limits and I had to rebuild repeatedly.

The main challenge was the quite accentuated curve that I expected the stringers to follow. I did manage to bend them accordingly on the fuselage’s halves while they were fixed to the construction board and the fixtures seemed to be stable. However, while trying to join the two halves I overtaxed the wood glue.

Joyrider: Fuselage

After finishing the upper wing quite fast, I chose to continue with the fuselage. On the one hand, because I didn’t have enought material left to build the lower wing, but on the other hand, because I never had scratch-built a wooden fuselage before. Hence, this should become my next test of my endurance.