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Re: D-window BC12-D
Bob,
The material used was 2024-0. The key is the dash zero, it is dead soft. Working it was like smearing room temperature butter. There is no doubler used to hold the shape. The shape is held by the two lips, one bent over toward the center of the window, the other to the outside. In the fifth picture in the previous post you can see the inner lip has been bent over toward the center of the frame. In the next picture you can see the outter lip is a little wider and bent to the outside. The wider lip will be seen inside the aircraft.
I made two slightly different sized frames for EACH window. The one shown in the picture, marked "small", is actually the retainer part. The larger frame is only about 3/16" larger than the one in the picture. The smaller frame will slide just inside the larger one and push the glass outward against the inner lip.
The larger frame will be attached to tabs welded to the diagonal tube of the fuselage. A cutout will be made at the two locations where the tube passes through the frame. The fabric will wrap over the small lip and be glued to the wide area of the frame. Then the glass goes in from the inside. After the interior fabric is glued on to form the sides of the baggage area, the smaller frame is inserted from the inside into the larger opening pushing the glass outward against the small lip of the larger frame. I plan to seal it with a tube of butyl caulk like what is used to install windshields in cars.
I still have the bucks, but you can make your own if you have a good jigsaw. The hardest part was getting a small hole started for the saw blade. I followed Hank's advise, and used Medium Density Hardboard from Home Depot. I think the MDH was about $45, and the aluminum was about $75 from the Metal Supermarket. If you need more detailed pictures or more info, let me know. The only minor problem I had was some of the screws holding the aluminum in the MDH kept working loose from the hammering. You don't have to hammer hard at all, but the side load on the screws moved them sideways in their holes. After you take the part out of the buck, you have to work it a little more with a hammer and dolly.
Bob,
The material used was 2024-0. The key is the dash zero, it is dead soft. Working it was like smearing room temperature butter. There is no doubler used to hold the shape. The shape is held by the two lips, one bent over toward the center of the window, the other to the outside. In the fifth picture in the previous post you can see the inner lip has been bent over toward the center of the frame. In the next picture you can see the outter lip is a little wider and bent to the outside. The wider lip will be seen inside the aircraft.
I made two slightly different sized frames for EACH window. The one shown in the picture, marked "small", is actually the retainer part. The larger frame is only about 3/16" larger than the one in the picture. The smaller frame will slide just inside the larger one and push the glass outward against the inner lip.
The larger frame will be attached to tabs welded to the diagonal tube of the fuselage. A cutout will be made at the two locations where the tube passes through the frame. The fabric will wrap over the small lip and be glued to the wide area of the frame. Then the glass goes in from the inside. After the interior fabric is glued on to form the sides of the baggage area, the smaller frame is inserted from the inside into the larger opening pushing the glass outward against the small lip of the larger frame. I plan to seal it with a tube of butyl caulk like what is used to install windshields in cars.
I still have the bucks, but you can make your own if you have a good jigsaw. The hardest part was getting a small hole started for the saw blade. I followed Hank's advise, and used Medium Density Hardboard from Home Depot. I think the MDH was about $45, and the aluminum was about $75 from the Metal Supermarket. If you need more detailed pictures or more info, let me know. The only minor problem I had was some of the screws holding the aluminum in the MDH kept working loose from the hammering. You don't have to hammer hard at all, but the side load on the screws moved them sideways in their holes. After you take the part out of the buck, you have to work it a little more with a hammer and dolly.
These are REALLY owner produced (you CAN design a new part if it is better than the original. That's my story and I am sticking to it. Sure a heck of a lot better than screws in fabric!)
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