Racked aft fuse

[sailorlee15]

Hi all,
Just became the owner of kit #1361 and I am very excited to start building.

I got a good deal on the plane but the previous builder somehow built the fuse out of square. It’s up through the turtle deck and has the tail mounted. All the other work on the wings and tail looks very good. Not sure what happen on the fuse.

I’m slowly trying to figure out how much I have to disassemble the fuse to rebuild it square. I think I need to take it back to the sides and then build back up from that point, remaking all the bulkheads.

Any advice? Anything I will have to remake/reorder?

Cheers,
Lee


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[Rynoth]

In which direction(s) is it not square? If vertically (flopping to one side), it might not be TOO bad. If horozontally, it may mean an all-new turtledeck as well.

I would start with measuring the longerons. If they are correct and the side skins aren't modified from original, I'd think you'd be fine to start at the side panels. Assuming the verticals are all in good order, getting new crossties (including possibly the cross tie box) should let you match-drill new holes to achieve square. The turtledeck formers might also need replacing.

Another question is whether or not the bottom skin was pilot drilled to the longerons. If it was and it was out of square horizontally, you'll probably either need a new bottom skin and/or remove/remake the lower longerons.

You said the tail is attached, which might mean you end up with mismatched holes between the spars and the longerons (I have a Waiex, not sure how they're attached on a Sonex. Might be solved with slightly larger holes, but you'd need to keep edge distances in mind.

It'll be quite a project in any case!

[Bryan Cotton]

Your thought process is good - take it back to the sides. It is possible the parts could go back together square when clecoed. These parts flop around a lot until they are fastened. But if they don't, remake the horizontal parts first, then see where you are with the turtledeck.

To Ryan's point, if you can get the box sans turtledeck square, do a trial fit with the tail. If the holes don't line up nicely then I would replace the top longerons.

Welcome to the forums!

[sailorlee15]

Thanks for the advice guys! Its racked vertically, the turtle deck install is actually pretty good. I'm going to have to remake either the vertical or horizontal ties so I have one part on each joint to redrill square. I feel like the turtle deck should go back together nicely, maybe the answer is to remake the horizontal ones as then I can adjust the turtle deck formers too.

The tail is mounted all wrong also, I'll know more once I remove it but it's looking like I'm going to need new upper longerons.

Thanks Again for the help.
Lee

[Darick]

Hi Lee, glad to see there is another Sonex within reasonable distance, Bermudian Valley, 07N. What engine do you plan to use?