Tip: Rolling fuselage cart

[Lars]

About four years ago (!) when I started working on my quickbuild fuselage, I realized it would be nice to be able to roll it around, since the hangar I share was getting increasingly crowded. So I took a cue from the rolling wing stand I had received from a generous local builder and built a stand on wheels. This served me well for the four years I had it. My RV-7 is on the gear now so I passed this stand on to someone else, but before I did so I took a few pictures and measurements, and drew up some plans.

This can easily be adjusted to fit varying height or width preferences. I'm 6 feet tall and found that the height was good for doing most jobs without having to stoop (I have a bad back) or stretch too much. It was strong enough to support me when I crawled in to the fuselage to work on interior stuff, and as can be seen from one of the photos below, it worked well for fitting the wings the first time.

This stand obviously fit my -7 fuselage, so it should work fine for a -9 and probably a -6, and possibly a -8. Not sure about the others. Clearance for the main gear mounts on nosewheel models could likely be dealt with by narrowing the front, if in fact it's in the way (not sure, since I've never looked closely at the gear leg installation on those models).

Hopefully this helps a few people in the same situation. For those who are interested, I saved the plans in pdf format and I'd be happy to send them via email.

[John Courte]

This is way cool. Did you drill/mount the wings to the fuse using this stand? If so, how was it for leveling etc. to align the wings for drilling?

Thanks for sharing this.

-John

[Lars]

Originally Posted by John Courte

This is way cool. Did you drill/mount the wings to the fuse using this stand? If so, how was it for leveling etc. to align the wings for drilling?

Thanks for sharing this.

-John

Yes, I did do the wing install/alignment/drill while on the cart. It was a stable platform. I used pieces of aluminum sheet as shims to level the fuselage. I've had plenty of frustrating experiences in the build process but installing the wings, then aligning and drilling them went smoothly. But it helps when your hangar partner is a professional surveyor

[glenn654]

Lars,
Please e-mail the plans to me....I will start building soon and your fuse cradle will be very helpful.

gpw6@windstream.net


Thanks,
Glenn Wilkinson

[Flyguytki]

If you could email me the plans that would be great,
Flyguytki at gmail dot com

thanks alot
-david

[TCONROY]

That looks great! Please e-mail them to me too! trevor.conroy(at)comcast.net

[sblair]

I'll take an e-mail set of plans, too. This will be a great help.

Thanks!

Sean Blair
RV-7A
COS

[Ironflight]

That looks pretty nice Lars - much better than the one I built out of completely recycled material laying about the shop!

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ad.php?t=56664

Paul

[Lars]

Originally Posted by Ironflight

That looks pretty nice Lars - much better than the one I built out of completely recycled material laying about the shop!

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ad.php?t=56664

Paul

Yes, but at least you were wearing a NASA tee shirt! As it turned out, I had most of the materials. I am incapable of buying only one 2x4 even when I only need one; so I had accumulated a pile. Wheels came out of a gigantic box of used casters from long-forgotten projects at work (old university farm shop). The drywall screws and the urethane glue were my sop to consumerism. But even the blue foam was scrounged; we had it in the hangar left over from my partner's (still ongoing) BD-4 cowling project.

[JonJay]

...I would suggest taking your wings off and storing them until you finish up virtually everything else. They get in the way and you risk dropping something on them as you dig around your fuselage....
The wings can be the last thing you install.