Thanks to all the cutting and welding we did we have a pretty good cross section of most of the fuselage. I may still do some inspection holes and/or punch test the remainder however as you can never be too safe.

That option was on the table before we acquired the second fuselage and to be honest I can’t say it wouldn’t have been the better way to go but I can say it would have cost more. These fuselages were acquired for far under material cost and even with all the mods, we are still thousands of dollars ahead of where we would have been building from scratch.

Actually I can’t absolutely say that. I can however say it is cheaper. Building from scratch would require me to freight in long lengths of tubing for the fuselage longerons and also build a jig. The fuselages I have already were purchased for less than cost of materials and don’t require any jig which keeps costs down. I did consider building a scratch fuselage and I won’t say it wasn’t the right decision especially considering the rust we discovered in the front and what it means for the next episode’s work but that’s part of the fun of these videos for the viewer. This isn’t a made for tv build where the twists and turns are planned. Entire portions of the build don’t work out and we find problems that make us do things in ways we wouldn’t prefer, etc. I can’t say how the next sections will go because I haven’t done them and hit the snags that will inevitably happen yet. I just take it one section at a time and deal with problems as they arise.

@@ianslife210 Thanks for the reply! I didn't mean to criticize (at least not... erm, unconstructively), I love your work in the channel, I guess in the build of the first fuselage I overestimated how fast you and your father seemed to go through the build when you were putting in new tubing (man, I wish I could weld half as good as you), instead of chasing issues with old tubing. But you are of course right, it makes more sense to reuse material you already have where possible, plus there are plenty of channels out there with scratch-built projects from jigs. Keep up the good work, we can't wait for more!

Ive been lucky enough to come across them. The first was on barnstormers. The second was from a friend I made who had it in the back of his shop.

bolt them across

There’s a lot of contention on this. My read on it is that no you don’t but do your research! There’s as many opinions as there are people so your mileage may vary.

So your not? Asking because I’m doing similar stuff.

Balance. The avid is nose heavy to start with and we are going to have to add length in the front as well for leg room plus a much heavier engine so the tail needs to extend to compensate.

The original plan was to raise the birdcage again however to be absolutely honest, the rust damage to the new fuselage is (as usual) throwing a monkey wrench in those plans. I have some parts on order that will help determine how it will go, just waiting for them to get in.

@@ianslife210 Yeah, I was originally hoping you would build a jig and straighten out the Rockhopper as is... Maybe it's not too late?

Right now all of mine are moving on from cfi work so I can’t recommend a specific person but there’s a lot of good ones at the flight schools at hooks. I’m working on my own cfi after my multi at United flight systems and then I’ll probably try to teach there.

IansLife thanks for the info. Im moving to the Hooks airport area in the fall so i needed to have an airport close so I can get my license and not have to travel too far.

Hooks airport, KDWH

They removed that feature annoyingly. You can email me at contact@camerawings.com and I’ll give you my number.