Having got the maiden flight safely out of the way, I felt that I could safely get on with a little bit more detailing. This model has no pretensions to being a competition class scale contender so it was simply a case of deciding which missing details mattered most to me.
I had taken the decision early in the build to keep the cabin area clear so there was a fair bit of work to be done to make use of all that space. However, I decided to start with something a little simpler, bending up a couple of drinking straws to simulate the engine exhausts.
Once I was happy with the shape and the exhausts had been dry fitted, I took the opportunity to get a lesson in painting from Mike Roach. Then it was back home to fix them in place. I reckon he did a pretty good job.
Now the cabin interior could be put off no more. The seats currently fitted to G-AGSH have a tubular frame and are upholstered in red leather to match the window surrounds. The tubular structure is quite complex, so some simplification was called for. . .
Two side frames were made from aluminium, then, with the aid of a simple jig consisting of four pieces of wire glued into a scrap of depron, the frames were joined with a seat base of 1/16 sheet balsa.
The picture on the right shows a test fit of some red funky foam upholstery.
Once I had confirmed that the seats were the right size for the cabin, the next job was to find some passengers to fit. This proved incredibly difficult and I ended up, to my shame, raiding my grandaughter's toybox.
While making the remaining seats, I contemplated the issue of seatbelts. My wife produced some suitable black ribbon from her inexhaustible stock and I was quite pleased with the idea I came up with for the buckles, made by cutting down car electrical connectors.
Once the girls had undergone a bit of knee surgery, they fitted very neatly.
Modifications to ensure that the passengers could be fixed firmly to their seats involved them in rather more severe indignity I'm afraid!
With all six seats fitted with belts and in position, the last task was to modify the floor panels and their fixings so that they could be inserted through the upper wing aperture, once the lower wing has been fitted and the electrical connections made.
All aboard at last, and I think they look ready to go!
