I got tired of the lower fuse extension being taped on so I cut a piece of 2.5 gutter pipe out and attached it to the bottom of the fuse with screws. Knife edge is even better now because the fuse extension is a little bigger than before. I can gain altitude when pulling on the rudder (right side of plane at top of knife edge). My control rod flexes when pushing the rudder, and the knife edge on that side is not as good. My CG is 3.75 inches from the LE using the hanging by loops and plumb-bob technique. Probably could go to 4 inches now that I am used to it.
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One #4 screw goes into the edge of the HDPE firewall and the other #4 screw goes into the HDPE landing gear re-enforcement block. The edge around the front screw is bigger because my first one cracked there. Also note one #10 and one #8 screw holding on the landing gear - A landing "mishap" pulled the #6 screws out one time...
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I switched to a 10 oz round Sullivan tank. You can also see that I have added some right thrust to the engine mount.
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Here is my battery location now. Velcro holds it to the bottom of the fuse.
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I also CA'ed some x-braces into the rear of the fuse to help stop the twisting back there. They are just cut-up bamboo skewers with CA drizzled on them to hold them in. Real quick to do. You can also see that my rudder control rod came out in the wrong place and is pulled in to the control horn. After the first few flights, I re-drilled holes in the control horn closer to the control surface to get more throw and that really messed up the alignment of the control rod. The outer shells of the control rods are glued to the side of fuse with E6000/Goop.
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My Wife, Cheryl.
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Me curling 6.5 pounds of SPAD Extra.
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