Section 4.
Mainshaft and Body installation
The Mainshaft and Body have to be initially fit before anything else gets done. You should also prepare yourself for some serious itching. I could whine to you all for a while and get into it about the fiberglass thing but I believe other builders have pretty much done all that is needed.
Here is Ken installing the lower bearing plate for the mainshaft.
Lifting this monster in place.
This photo shows the shaft in the lower bearing.
The first piece of the body to be installed is the seatback assy. Proper placement of this is crucial in that the entire body is built around it and the final position of the body depends on where this is located laterally in the frame. It is also the only part of the body that is secured directly to the frame.
The body tub,windscreen, and side panels are starting to come
together.
Here, you can see the clecos holding the tub and also nutplates that will be rivited to the seatback. The nutplates will secure the body parts that are screwed together.
Installing the rear panels required quite a bit of trimming to get them to fit somewhat nice.
This step of the construction took me roughly 2 months to complete. Something about itching day after day came to mind every night I came out to the garage to work.
This is it! I still have to finish the windscreen and rivit the rest of the nutplates to the front tub. I will save it for later.
Another shot of the same from a different angle. I think it turned out pretty nice for my first helicopter.