Sequoia Aircraft Corporation F.8L Falco, Construction Manual

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F.8L Falco Construction Manual 24–4 Revision 4, March 1, 2002
used the Sta. 14 template to supply all bracing for side loads. The centerboard and other
templates were screwed to the shop floor with shelf brackets. Wires and turnbuckles were used to
hold the top of the templates in place.
When the wing is float sanded, you may find it easier to make a raised walkway of sawhorses and
board so that you do not have to reach up while sanding. If your arms are raised up high while
sanding, they will fatigue quickly. Keep the space for such a walkway in mind when you brace the
fuselage jig.
Remember that the wing templates will be aligned to the chord lines already drawn on the main
wing spar. It will not be possible to remove or install frames No. 5 and 6 once the jig is set up.
Due to the weight of the main spar, the centerboard will become quite weak if the brace shown in
Figure 2 is removed. As these frames extend out to wing Sta. 1, they will be inside the open area
of the template. This provides you with the opportunity to install support braces on the inboard
face of the Sta. 1 template to support these frames. It also means that the frames must be installed
in the jig early.
The front spar/frame No. 3 assembly will be allowed relatively little movement while in the jig.
You will have to lift the front spar slightly to install the intermediate leading edge ribs.
You should install the main landing gear legs to make sure that the landing gear fittings are in the
proper alignment. To check this alignment, the position of the landing gear leg should be
checked in both the extended and retracted position. Because of the wing template, the landing
gear leg will not be able to swing inboard so you will have to remove the landing gear leg to place
it in the two positions. Another way is to check the alignment by swinging the leg outboard.
The principal purpose of the template at wing Sta. 1 is to locate the leading edge alignment
strings. These strings will be extended to the centerboard where a small hole will be drilled and
then the string will extend to the other wing. While it is technically possible to use only one Sta.
1 template, this assumes that the wing spar is perfect. We think that two Sta. 1 templates should
be used and the common meeting point at the centerboard should be used as a cross-check, not as
the primary reference point.
If you wish, use small screweyes for the leading and trailing edge alignment strings on the Sta. 1
template. Cut a small notch for the screweye and then screw it in place. The screweye should
have a diameter of 1/8” or so, and the alignment string can be stretched from the Sta. 14 template
to the centerboard. When everything is in alignment, the string will be centered in the little “gun
sight” provided by the screweye.