Brief Description: Semi-permanent straight line in shop
A part of getting the landing gear fairings and wheel fairings straight is lining up the fuselage and the wheel fairings. The desire is to have the wheel fairings exert the least amount of aerodynamic drag and to have them straight into the flight path in level flight orientation. The process is to mark a straight line on the shop floor, and then the fuselage and fairings can be lined up on that reference point. I chose the laser level instead of the chalk line to make the line on the shop floor. Working in reverse to keep the fuselage in the center of my workspace, I dropped two plumb bobs off the front and rear centers of the fuselage and then lined up the laser to catch both the front/aft plumb lines. I then put painter's tape on the shop floor and marked the center with a sharpie, based on the laser point, every 2 feet. From there, it was a matter of drawing a straight line from point to point with my 4-foot level. I didn't need to drop the plumb bobs at the beginning, as the laser line would be straight regardless, but this allowed me to keep the fuselage in the workspace area I wanted.