New look to my Gull 2K

[kblaswich]

Well I did it, I modified my fuselage and window junction to suit my taste. A whole lot of work, but I could do it much faster now that the learning curve with fiber glass is over. I basically upped the sides a bit and upgraded the windows from 1/16' (.062") to 3/32 (.093"), and added a foam covered with fiberglass reinforcement strip to the top of the sides for stiffening, (including the door). The result is absolutely no flapping or drumming of the fuselage at high speeds, oh what fun! I had to hire a painter as I am a wrench and rough finish kind of guy, and I wanted to do Mark's design a nice touch. Fly-in judging, here I come.
See my plane in Kess's Gull 2000

["James Bassage jbassage@gmail.com [Earthstar_Aircraft]"]

How do I get a peek at your modified fuselage?

And at what speeds were you getting flapping or drumming?

Thanks.

J

Sent from my iPad

[blaswichk]

If you go to the Earthstar Yahoo group site, my plane is in the Kess’s Gull 2000 folder. It turns out that the original builder (whom has passed away) didn’t rivet the right side of the window to the down tube by the pilot’s right shoulder, as it would have deformed the window due to the fuselage being farther away than others I’ve seen since. A simple cross tube drilled and riveted would have probably done the same thing, and the same for the door that was flappy due to a not perfect fit to fuselage at the latch area. My first iteration was to add some painted Lexan pieces to extend the fuselage up, then add a 2” X 1/2’ foam strip and 2 ply’s of fiberglass over that bonded to 2 more ply’s of fiberglass on the inside of the Lexan extensions. The function worked really well and stopped the drumming (right side), and the door flapping as now the door is much stiffer. All was sort of well until the summer heat and parked out side the added Lexan started getting wavy as the cement I used to fasten it reacted with the heat. Oh, and the speeds all that happened was at 100 mph and up. And secondly, I liked the look and inside view of the windows raised, (just my taste), and now that it is done right, it has my touch to Mark’s exquisite design. The window thickness upgrade probably helped a lot too.
kb