DISCOVERY JET
Construction - Session 2

Ahead to Session 3 or Back - Session 1

Over the past several days I've been able to make some progress on the Discovery fuselage section. After tracing out the formers and fuselage parts I laid them over 1/8" ply and lite ply and cut them out. I might go back and shoot a few pictures of the process, but I'm sure most of you have built a kit or two from plans and are well versed in the process of cutting from templates.

Below you will see me using clamps to glue down the wing saddle re-enforcement.

Here I temporarily clamped the fuselage together so I could get an idea of the size and figure out where I might want to mount equipment. It would be easier to make modifications to the fuselage now then once I've glued the formers in. One change I did have to do and it was not until I had the fuselage clamped together that I figured it out. The Discovery is designed around a 500 series turbine so using the dimensions of the formers straight from the plans would make for a tight fit for my Ram 750P turbine. So I elected to re-cut some of the former and make them 6" wide instead of around 5". This would give me the necessary width to make my turbine installation much better. To do this I determined that I could start at F4 (former 4) and work my way back to F7 keeping the rear portion of the fuselage 6" wide.

Another shot of the fuselage. As you can see the extra fuselage width is barely noticeable.

And still another shot of the fuselage.

I should be ready to start gluing down the formers within a day or so and the Discovery jet will be taking shape. In case you are wondering what is up with the Bail Out Apparel banner in the back ground of the pictures, that is my new T-shirt company. I started Bail Out Apparel to offer aviation enthusiast the opportunity to purchase a T-shirt with their favorite plane screen printed. So far sales are strong and Bail Out Apparel is doing well. Please take some time and visit our web site and view our shirt designs.

Stay tune for Session 3 to be posted soon!

Ahead to Session 3 or Back - Session 1