REFLECTOR: bulkhead flanges

[Douglas Holub]

Here's an idea for those of you who haven't done your strakes yet. The plans say to install those two bulkheads that go between the center section spar and the fuel bulkhead after the top of the strake has been attached. I assume the reason is to make it is easier to glass the aft side of the fuel bulkhead to the upper strake. But having the upper strake installed will definitely make it harder to glass the inboard side of those two bulkheads (the ones with the 5" access holes.) Maybe some people aren't glassing the inboard side. But I thought doing it blind through those 5" holes would be like building a ship in a bottle. So I put gray tape around the bottom of those two bulkheads and glassed the bottom halves of the inboard sides before I put the upper strake on. I can put structural adhesive on those flanges for an easy installation even with the upper strake installed. 

It's not a great idea, but I think it will help a little. I'm still going to try to add a little glass to the upper halves of the inboard sides using the ship-in-a-bottle method.

And here's a plug for Noel's idea about putting play dough on the tops of the fuel bulkheads when fitting them to the upper strake surface. That was a good way to gauge the distance between the bulkheads and the strake.

Doug Holub
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