Fuselage - Truss Frame

I've started with the truss frame for the rear of the fuse because that's the hardest part. I figure it's all going to be down hill from there.

Mate, was I right. The plans are a little confusing and the frame is also confusing, at least for me. Perhaps it was the late night?

Either way the frame sides are built in the standard method over the plan. Make sure that you mark the position of the cross members onto the upper and lower longerons and also mark the positions of the fuse formers on the upper longeron. This will make life much easier when you assemble the truss.

Once you've made both sides and marked the postions I mentioned above I would make the cut to the rear of each side to facilitate the joining of the halves in the next step.

Join the sides of the frame on the bottom first. Use the shortest lines (long ways) on the plan to line this up when doing the join. I suggest gluing the rear of the frame, then cut and glue the farest end cross member and then work down towards the back from there. Once you've got all that done, I suggest putting the tailwheel mount (ply) and the underside planking (balsa) as this will hold the whole frame true for the next part of the build. Make sure you leave some planking out from the side so that you can sand them down once you're ready to finish off.

Now the tricky part! When you do the top cross-members you need to line up with a different set of lines on the plan. The longer lines strangely enough! This may seem self explanitory to everyone but me, but I think it's worth mentioning so you don't have to build two truss frames like I did!

Follow the same method and cut and glue the fartherest cross member first, then move towards the back.

That's it for the truss. Next we'll be doing the first of the formers and building the rest of the front onto the truss.