Nose bulkheads

The extended round nose has a few more bulkheads in the nose than the original plans built nose. Here, we'll need an F4.1, F1-3, F-7.75 and two BC1 (I call them the baby NG30 panels).

The F1-3 template can be found here: F1-3 template.

The BC1 (baby NG30's) can be found here: BC1 template.

The F-7.75 is a perfect circle with an 8.25" diameter.

The F4.1 is a simple rectangle fitted to size.

Since all of these are made out of the high density H250 0.25" foam - and therefore crazy expensive... I had to bond two scrap panels together to make my F1-3 bulkhead. Nothing new here... poured some micro and bonded them together...

I then moved on to tracing the BC1 panels - does that foam panel look familiar? Yup! That's the F22 leg cutout!

I cut one on the bandsaw and sanded it to final shape. I then used it as a template to trace the second one.

Since I wanted these two to be identical images of each other, I poked toothpicks through to hold them in place and used my router table to trim the second one perfectly flush with the other.

Taaaadaaaa! Two BC1 panels ready for glass....

The F4.1 is really straight forward. I simply placed some foam on the backside of the NG30 forks and traced it out.

I then sanded the edges round...

Taaaaadaaaa! F4.1 ready for glass...

The F-7.75 is a simple circle with an 8.25" diameter - you still have your compass from 7th grade geometry class, no?

With the F1-3 foam bonded, I traced the outline. I made sure the split line ran horizontally - since this bulkhead will be mounted to the NG30 forks, this was the more structurally sound orientation.

It was now glassing time! I cut all the cloth before hand (2 plies of BID for each face).

All my ducks lined up!

Nothing new here... slurry the foam...

Spread the slurry...

Apply first ply of BID...

Wet everything out... like making crepes!

And second ply of BID...

After cure, I used my router table to trim the fiberglass flush with the foam...

I then glassed the backside of all the bulkheads (except for the F4.1... the backside of that one gets applied after it is installed onto the NG30 forks).

And again, trimmed on the router table after cure....

There you have it! All the nose bulkheads ready to be installed onto the fuselage! (I had applied masking tape strips to protect them from getting scratched with the metal surface of the router table)