Tips, Tricks &
Problems
Tip
This is the scrap wood I
had left over after building the Fin & Rudder
Save every scrap of wood.
Always use the smallest piece possible in your scrap pile before
you pull out a new piece of wood. This is especially true if you
are building from a kit. I have been very careful and have had
to order additional wood from Fisher a few times.
Tip
Over a period of time I've
heard about a number of people using Dixie cups to mix there T-88.
I'd sure go through a lot of Dixie cups! I went to a convenience
store and bought a whole box of wood stir sticks. I only use 1/2
of a stir stick at a time. I use business card stock to mix my
glue on. I like doing it this way because you can get equal amounts
of glue out side by side. You can also use all of the glue on
the paper.
Problem
This is one of the problems
I have had. I installed bracing for the lower stabilizer struts
as per in the plans. You can see the bracing going from side to
side on the lower longerons. This caused a problem. When running
the cables from the rudder pedals to the steerable tail wheel,
the cables would go right through the middle of the strut brace.
Another 303 builder I know had the same problem. He cured this
problem by running vinyl tubing over the top of the strut bracing
and out of the bottom of the fuselage. He has been flying his
303 for a year and had no problems.
Problem
Early on I found a problem
with the blueprints. Other 303 builders said they noticed the
same thing. You have the full size blueprints and you also have
small drawings showing the length of the spars and other parts.
There is a discrepancy of 1/8" between the full size blueprint
and the small drawing. I built the elevator and the horizontal
stabilizer at the same time. On one i used the blueprints to cut
my wood lengths and on the other I cut my wood per the small drawing.
When they were complete the horizontal stabilizer was 1/8"
shorter than the elevator. This photo shows 1/8" piece of
plywood being installed on the horizontal stabilizer so everything
would be nice and square.
Tip
When I built my first wing
I cut and fit each peace. When the rib was totally put together
I would take it all apart and glue it all back together. this
took forever!!! I was talking with Mike Makepeace about how long
it took to make a rib and that it was not one of my favorite things
to do. Mike suggested that I cut all of the pieces out at one
time to speed the process up. This photo shows all the pieces
cut out for the ribs and fals ribs for the second wing. It does
save time.
I still don't like building
ribs!!!
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