SonexBuilders.net

I am curious if all builders had to manhandle the formers into the turtleneck skin. I have turtledeck skin clecoed in place and there is no way to get both left and right bulkhead formers 1 (F16-01 R & L) to fit. Even if I force it in there I doubt ill get it to be flush on top specially after adding the splice plate on top. Is this normal? Must I get medieval at this point to get the formers to fit in there?

I had the skin clecoed in with the spine in place also. I pushed the formers up as tight as possible while Adam drilled the holes from above. We had them blue lined so he could make sure they were aligned.

Vegaj02 wrote:I am curious if all builders had to manhandle the formers into the turtleneck skin. I have turtleneck skin clecoed in place and there is no way to fit both left and right bulkhead formers 1 to fit. even if I force it in there I doubt ill get it to be flush in top specially after adding the brace on top. is this normal must I get medieval at this point to get the formers to fit in there?

Can't remember this being a problem, I installed all the formers myself with no help other than a few clamps to hold them in place:
http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_l ... 87&row=168
http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_l ... 17&row=167
http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_l ... 19&row=166
http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_l ... 91&row=165

All your advice so far (including mine) is coming from Sonex and Waiex builders. The Sonex formers are a very good fit. I had no trouble fitting them by myself. The Onex formers may not be such a good fit. A friend who is building a Xenos had to fit 0.025" and 0.032" packers to some of the turtle-deck formers to get a good fit with the skin and the Onex may be the same. On this one you probably need advice from a Onex builder.

Peter
Sonex 894
198 hours

I assembled the formers to the fuselage, riveted the skins to the center spine then attached the skin to the formers. I didn't have a second pair of hands but it would be easier with a helper.

I had to use spacers between the skin and formers to get a good fit and know others that did the same so yeah it seems to be the method of choice .Sonex will tell you that if you follow the instructions all will fit perfectly,which certainly didn't pan out for me.Nothing wrong with using spacers and much better than having huge dimples in the outer skin.Scroll down to see the gaps I had .
Mike Onex 80
http://www.onexmike.org/fuselage-f22-to-f14.html

Thanks all for your answers. I believe I will try to push the formers tightly against the skin from back to front and have someone drill from top. As right now formers 1 won't even fit under the turtledeck unless I go to it with a hammer which I won't do. Hopefully it will stretch skin enough so when I get to front formers 1 will fit. I see some had the opposite problem and needed spacers. They must have given them some of my skin. Lol as it seems I need an extra inch of skin. I drilled and clecoed the last bulkhead where the tail attaches and it is so tight it made the top of the bulkhead buckle and bend in some.