Honeycomb Ultralight Cabin

The last two days have been spent starting to put together my ultralight kit aircraft. I'm pleased with my progress; I currently have 19 hours in the build. When finished, my Chipper UltraCub will look a lot like this:

Yeah, you have to use some imagination to make that real plane. An engine would help. Also, a propeller, a windshield, a coat of paint, and some control systems.

My efforts this week are focused on the cabin and rear fuselage. Drum roll, please... here's some photos at the end of today, Wednesday.

What you are looking at is a cabin which is very similar to earlier ProCubs and UltraCubs from Belite Aircraft. Structurally, it is built from honeycomb aluminum and a lot of sheet metal.  The honeycomb is used very smartly, using pre-cut strips, so very little is wasted.

I am providing the plans for this ultralight to my Patreon subscribers for $10 / month. Terms & Conditions apply.  Here's the link: www.patreon.com/jameswiebe  You can also indicate your desire to purchase a kit for $35 / month. I need the support, and I appreciate it very much.

Looking inside the cabin from the rear, here's the view:

And here's another view.

The main idea in this design is to surround the pilot with a cage, constructured of honeycomb and extruded aluminum, so that the occupant is well protected in the event of an accident. The size features are similar to my past commercial designs, a tall person will fit well, and a big person will fit as well. 

The exterior width is 25", and I am 6' 2"+. 

For example, the firewall frame is constructed from 3/4" thick honeycomb. These pieces are brute strong, yet very light. This is 12 ounces of honeycomb:

I used my shopbot to cut various gussets, providing exact fit and awesome quality. Here's some samples.

The most impressive gusset so far in this project is the side gusset. It ties together the forward cabin, a lot of honeycomb, and the rear fuselage while weight very little and providing predrilled holes for easy assembly. It's nice.

I'm also using stock aluminum structural angle, which requires hand drilling. Here, I've marked a part with a drill pattern.

You can see that part attached to a bulkhead, in the below photo. Also note how my predrilled angles have been used to attach the bulkhead to side honeycomb.

As I indicated before, I am providing the plans for this ultralight design to my Patreon subscribers for $10 / month. Terms & Conditions apply.  Here's the link: www.patreon.com/jameswiebe  You can also indicate your desire to purchase a kit for $35 / month. I need your patreon support, and I appreciate it very much!!!

The most requested feature is folding wings. Naturally, this design has wings that fold.