The hard points for the venturi and handling points on the rear fuz have now been fitted as have the switches for the Rx and ignition batteries, one in each cockpit.
The skin for the top of the fuz has been made from 3 lengths of balsa sheet joined together using the masking tape and glue method. Once cured, the sheet was wetted on both sides with warm water to aid forming around the curve of the fuz and held in place with cable ties placed over the formers. Strips of T/E stock were placed at the edges of the sheeting to prevent the ties marking the wood before everything was tightened up and left until the wood had thoroughly dried out.
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Whilst this was drying, I decided to get on with some cockpit detailing. As the cockpit floor is raised to make room for the servo tray and battery stowage, this will be minimal at best.
I chose to start with the seats (seat backs only
) and fabricated them from K&B 3/32" brass tube for the frame, litho plate for the seat back and chemi wood (model lab board) for the cushion. The harness will be a Sutton type made from flat sports laces and servo mounting ferrules.- IMG_0550 Large Web view.jpg (98.31 KiB) Viewed 14498 times
As I don't have any documentation for the type of seat used, I adopted some artistic licence (cheated
) and went with a style used by some German manufacturers of the period. As only the top half of the seat will be required and will be placed against the former at the rear of the Cockpit, I don't see this being a problem.I know you won't be able to see them from a 100 feet Dave (probably not even from 6 inches
) but i'll know they are there 
.More to follow.
The frames were formed from the brass tube using K&B spring pipe benders, which give a lovely smooth bend without crushing/kinking the pipe.
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The litho seat backs had the lightening holes cut using a 10mm wood drill,
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and attached with Zap.
A jewelers anvil and plenishing hammer were used to form the curve at the top of the seat and fold the edges around the frame.
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A little tidying up with some 120 grade wet and dry paper and the job's ready for paint.
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The plenishing hammer comes with four interchangeable heads, cost a couple of pounds and has been invaluable in doing detail work. Go on, you know you want one.
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