Fuselage Carriage Construction

Fuselage Carriage Construction

Gotta hold the plane up, till the wheels go on...

My building space is a very small 2 car garage, which is also home to my car; therefore, I needed my fuselage to be mobile.

This means that I needed a fuselage carriage, instead of just a level stationary platform.  

First, I want to thank and give credit to the VOBA forum, as I took the comments on previous carriage designs, to get ideas for my design.  In order for the carriage to be practical, in addition to having caster wheels, it needed to have a way to level it quickly and easily.

So, here is my very crude design drawing.  

The design is 3 layers of 2x6 frames, with plywood on top, and a frame to hold the casters.

The important design features I came up with were using continuous (piano) hinges at right angles, which would allow for adjusting level on both axis.  I also raised the hinge sides up, with a piece of 1x2.  This allows a negative adjustment angle, in case the hinge side happens to be on the "high ground".

 To effect the adjustments, I used brass wood inserts with carriage bolts.

I drilled the pilot holes just longer than the bolts, and screwed the wood inserts in until they were flush with the wood.

I used carriage bolts, because of their rounded heads.  I figured the rounded heads would provide a smooth even support as the angle changed, during adjustments.

The carriage bolts then support the layer above them.  Screwing the bolts in and out, then adjusts the level.

With the top and casters on, it was essentially complete.

 The casters are on boards extending beyond the frame.  This allows access to the caster locks, at almost any angle.

160 lbs of dog was used to test the carriage, before putting the fuselage on.

Test passed, time to put the fuselage on!

Fuselage on!  I applied a bunch of hot glue to the carriage top, prior to setting the fuselage on to secure it.  So far it is holding it strong, but if ever its not enough, I'll use drywall screws.

 With the fuselage on, I found one problem with the design.  The curved bottom meant it was only supported along the center area.  This meant the sides were very flimsy, and needed to be better supported.  The obvious solution would be to put vertical arms up from the carriage, but I didn't like that idea.

My solution was to fill the gap, under the fuselage with "Great Stuff" Large Gap Filler.

It ain't pretty, but it worked great!  I could clean it up, by trimming the excess, but I want to get to building!!!   Most importantly, this added support made the sides much more stable.

The last step was to level the fuselage and apply spirit levels.

In addition to the spirit levels I added to the inside of the fuselage, I put these two on the carriage.  They are attached off the edges, so you can see the levelness of the side you are currently adjusting.  These allow making adjustments, without having to get up and check the levels on the fuselage.  An important note is that these are leveled to the fuselage, not the top of the carriage. 

Fuselage carriage complete.

 Time for a well deserved beer!

Overall, it took me about 8 hours to complete the carriage, not including leveling the fuselage, which will be my next post.


Update:

After considerable time spent working on the fuselage, I have two updates:

1)  Overall, this carriage design is working great!  It is a very stable work surface, which is easy to accurately level.  I highly recommend this design to for any kit plane build.

2)  There is one improvement I would make to this design...  I would make it a good 2-3 feet longer, one foot, or more, in each direction.  It is a great and stable work surface; however, it can get a bit tippy if you move too far fore or aft, like working on the center spar supports.