I started the Eagle off by constructing the top part of the cage. The first problem was drawing up a plan. The structure is composed of four body sections; the top and the two frames that the Motors and Command Module are mounted to. I had blown up the Phill D. Rae blueprints to 43.25" and this helped greatly in placing the ¼ " inside diameter pieces that the 'vertical' pieces are mated to. The nice thing about the Eagle is that it is a mirror image front to back and side to side so once you get started, it all seems to come together nicely as you go if you watch your angles and measurements.

The construction technique used to mill the joints for the top was to use a tubing cutter and a 1/4" hand file to shape the individual rungs of the ladder. The diagonal pieces were also shaped this way. By the time this was nearly done I believe I had waisted more stock than remained in the final component and had suffered through a number of blisters :( . The solution was to move up to power tools.

I obtained a small three inch Machineist Cross-slide vice and a benchtop drill press. The vice has the usual jaws and it could be moved on X and Y horizontal axis. This allowed me to cut a piece of stock and once placed into the vice at 90° to a ¼ inch carbide steel cutter in the drillpress, mill out the material in the piece so as to make a 90° and clean edged joint to a straight piece of tubeing.

The four body pieces, two front and two back are exactly the same. The big hint for anyone else who is going to make an Eagle is to make the four body pieces and the two frames for the nose and engines at the same time. This keeps everything square. I made two templates with 8 X ¼ " holes laid out as the cage is on end and ran 8, 14" pieces of tuding between the secured templates. This is over simplified as you will see if you are to attempt the project but it is the basis of it. The six components were then separated from one another with a bandasw.

I plan to post the specific measurements I came up with as soon as time permits.

There are two ways to connect the pieces. Sloder and glue. The glueing method is not too usefull for this model as the cage has to be strong and reliable ( See The Mark of Acheron ... model or not, Its gotta be strong. ). The solder method is best. David Sisson uses a solder paste method that I have not tried. This looks great in the SFM article he wrote. I use a small torch with an electric starter for easy on and off to heat the two pieces and solder flux in the joint to draw in the tin/lead alloy Solder. The joints are easily wiped clean with a rag. I also use MAPP Gas to heat large areas and sometimes an 88W soldering iron. I'm working on a resistance soldering device for the next Eagle. This should help things go together faster. The biggest tip I could offer is to do as many joints as possible each time you make a run at it. The structure can be adjusted as later but the setup time for each single piece is the same for one or five.