January 19, 2006

So with new parts to make for the tail, comes new toys...I mean tools to play with...I mean, use. The pneumatic staple gun seems to be the favorite tool of many Falco builders since it's used to clamp down aircraft plywood skin to the underlying spruce while gluing it on. The skin of the Falco, as well as the strengthening gussets and covers, are made of birch aircraft plywood. The staple gun is the Senco SFW10XP that shoots C-size, fine wire staples. It should last me for all skinning tasks for the entire building process. Later on, I'll need a larger compressor, but for now, I won't be skinning anything large, so this compressor should do the trick for covering the small things, like ribs, frames, and spars. They really make you figure out what accessories you need for the pneumatic system, the staple gun came with absolutely nothing. A quick trip to the hardware store was the remedy.

I've been waiting for these tools before I removed the second set of ribs from the jig. I wanted to glue down the strips to the rib first. I cut out and sized all the strips tonight for the first and second set of ribs.

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