Still carving
I'm not sure I have the shape I'm happy with just yet.
When I started carving, I realized, "hey, this
is the top of the nose". This is a pretty important part of the plane.
aesthetically speaking. So I was rather careful. I thought carving the canard
cover at the same time would help to make a smooth transition. I didn't really
want to wait until chapter 18 canopy to carve it all at once. Like I said, I
"just didn't want to wait". Carving the nose is highly rewarding, however, it
can also be horrifying. At least for me. I wanted it to be just perfect. Once I
finished, I looked at it and thought, hmm the nose is flat in the middle. Nat
says it's better to have it rounded starting high in the center and slope
towards the sides. "Ya, that would be better. But mine is flat. "Maybe I should
buy some pour foam and make a frame on the nose and fill it up with foam and do
some more carving"? Maybe I should forget the whole "show plane" mentality and
get on to the next step and just have fun. "No, maybe I better call Clark Canedy
and drive up to visit him and his project this weekend and get some nose tips
there and if I don't like what I have after that, I'll do some re-work. Hey,
maybe my nose is carved just fine at this point, I just want something else to
compare to. And, I don't want to glass it and regret what I did every time I
look at it. Clark said he did his nose a little different from plans which means
he really tried to get a nice shape as well, so it will be a good comparison.
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I made this out of clark foam. |
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I made templates and hotwired the canard shape into some styrofoam. I wired a piece that was about a foot longer so I had some scrap. I cut a 1 inch wide end off, put it in place, sanded to shape, then put it back on the orig. template, re-inserted the nails I used to wire cut it, and traced the new outline. Cut the template, and re-wired the whole thing, but still leaving extra on the top to carve down. I can't complain at all about the way the styrofoam carved. |
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If you ask me, there's only one way to do your shaping. Wait til nighttime, turn off the lights in your shop and put your sanding board in one hand, and a light bulb with a shade in the other hand. You will be amazed at what you see. |
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Here you can see, with the shop lights on, it's tough to tell whether or not you have any imperfections. |
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More uses for the canard other than lift. |
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