Fuselage Nose construction

In this post I describe how I went about building the fuselage nose section.

Firstly I built a rotating jig and mounted the bulkheads/frames.  These were carefully aligned to ensure the correct profile was maintained.

 

Bulkheads/formers aligned on the build jig

Stringer locations were then refined to ensure correct alignment.

Stringer alignment

I was then able to begin attachment of the stringers.  I used aluminium angle in a range of sizes – some flexibility was required for some portions of the nose, so smaller size angles were used in these areas.

Attaching stringers

Attachment of the stringers required numerous hand built custom aluminium angle components.  This was a time consuming and laborious task – measuring, cutting, bending and drilling each angle to suit.  I then began to rivet everything into place, once again ensuring the alignment remained accurate.

Bulkhead/formers and stringer attachment detail

After many hours and many hundreds of rivets, the stringers are all attached.  Starting to look like the genuine article!

Forward nose construction

 

Next time I’ll be detailing the development and construction of the inner intake nozzle.