Overview
The Tucano has a 20 mm OD tube fixed onto the fuselage hanging under the fuselage creating an easier entry via the port wing walk. This makes entry easy and well worthwhile installing.
The diagram below shows the relative drag created by a tube versus a streamlined tube.
Installation
The first task was to cut the hole through the skin using the mounting point as a guide. As this is no simple circle, so with a little luck one of the rivet holes was on the tubes centre line. This hole was enlarged to 1/2'' OD using a step drill then further enlarged using 1/4'' chain file. The hole was enlarged carefully until the file would run parallel to the inside face of the fuselage mounting tube.
A trial fit confirmed it fitted correctly, then it was secured using 2 x M6 bolts to the fuselage using the pre-drilled holes.
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| Printed farings for step and flaps |
A profile was printed using a 3D printer in ABS plastic to fit onto the face of the tube that was supplied by the factory. These were created as two separate profiles with the lower one fixed to the tobe and the upper fitted and profiled to the fuselage. A fillet of polyurethane adhesive blended the upper profile into the fuselage.
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| Lower faring fitted |
Comment
Simple clean up and looks tidy but compared to the fake exhaust looks like a waste but it all about balance even a little were possible.
A similar clean up was done with the flap hinge and this will be covered later.
The use of ABS is a suck and see as it doses soften at about 70C but is used extensively in automotive interiors and appears to stand up well.
To follow the work find the aircraft on Facebook under Gary Spencer Salt
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