2004-Feb-16
Bolts and mounting plates prepped for welding.
2004-Apr-3
The finished axles.
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2006-Jun-11
Left: Making the crease in the bottom pan.
Right: Forming the rounded sides of the bottom pan. The "form" is the toe of a 3 x 3 x 3/8 steel angle, covered with masking tape to cut down on the scratches imparted to the work piece. The hard part was holding the work piece in just the right position with my left hand while whacking it with the mallet in my right. The edges are not perfectly straight arrow but they will do.
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2006-Sep-25
The tail end of the top longerons had to be plugged after I poured in the Tube Seal. These homemade plugs are made from silicone rubber baffle material and some small screws.
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2006-Sep-30
Making the turtle deck. Spent almost a day clamping the edges and hammering them over with a mallet, then threw the piece away because it didn't fit very well. My neighbor's bending brake made the Z bends on the second piece a snap. (Same guy who lent me his truck to bring home the air compressor and blasting sand. He'll get two rides at least!) The material is 6061-T6, .020 thick.
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2007-Jan-7
Making the instrument panel from a leftover piece of .025-inch wing material, using the same technique as for making ribs. Clockwise from top left: getting ready to hammer the flange over; flange hammered and fluting started; fluting finished. Those are my homemade fluting pliers in the photos.
.025 seems thin for a panel but it's a small panel and will be anchored to two uprights. If necessary I can add a stiffener on the back side (between the PFD and the color weather radar).
2007-Feb-3
Hey, so far, so good! Adjusting the fly cutter to get a nice, tight hole around the instruments was the most difficult part. Every time I tightened the set screw the adjustment walked. Good thing I had plenty of scrap aluminum for practice.
The big instruments (airspeed and altimeter) are in the lower corners because they won't fit anywhere else. At the top of the panel, where I wanted them, they would have bumped the back of the gas tank.
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2007-Aug-31
Making the second instrument panel. I know, I know - most airplanes only have one. Fact is, I did a good job on the first one (it only weighs ten ounces) except that the layout of the instruments didn't work very well. I neglected to leave room for the gas gage and I put one of the long instruments where there wasn't enough clearance to the gas tank. So....
This one is 1/4-inch plywood wrapped in two layers of fiberglass. The simple truth is there wasn't enough aluminum left to make another panel but I did have some plywood and fiberglass material, so off I went. So far, so good. Next comes more sanding and then black spray paint. This one weighs a pound, so the aluminum one had it beat in the weight department.
2007-Oct-27
The registration number, a milestone.
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2008-Jan-13
My fiberglass battery box and aluminum mounting tray for a motorcycle battery. Since I'm not using a starter it's more battery than is necessary but I'm pretty sure I'll need the weight in the tail anyway.
One of my many mistakes was thinking this would be easy to do after the fuselage was covered. Actually, it would have been, for someone with elbows that bend both ways. Attaching the tray to the fuselage through the rear access hole was quite an exercise in patience. In the end I came up with a way to clamp it to the fuselage so there was no need to get in there with my welder.
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2008-Dec-29
A simple little device for supporting the wing leading edge up. It's made from scrap water pipe, structural angle and flat stock. With the wing in this position it was easy to lay fiberglass around the leading edge, which is for a cradle that I will use for storage.
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2009-Apr-10
Fitting the wheel pants. They arrived from Great Plains in one piece, with a longitudinal seam and a big cutout for the tire. I decided to split them laterally at the leading edge of the gear because it seemed that a tighter fit to the tire would be possible.
First I marked the split line and cut the pant with a saber saw. The sharp odor confirmed that the resin was polyester. Once the pant was in two pieces I applied cellophane packaging tape to the forward piece, inside along the edge, then put both pieces back together with masking tape. To create a flange I laid three plies of glass, straddling the parting line all around. The resin – Bondo polyester from the auto parts store - stuck to the rear piece but not the front one (because of the cellophane tape). Final steps: split the two pieces apart again, remove the tape, trim the flange and add nut plates. The big rectangular cutout on the inboard side is clearance for the gear leg.
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2009-Apr-11
You can almost see how far aft of the tire the cutout extends in the left photo. Filling most of that gap (to reduce drag and keep debris from collecting inside) and adding a flap to streamline the flow over the bolt heads on the gear leg are the next jobs.
2009-May-25
A dummy mounting plate is attached to the pant. Both it and the forward part of the pant are covered with tape. Note that the gel coat has been removed from the edge on the left where the new flap will be attached.
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The drop from the gear leg cutout is trimmed a half inch on each side and positioned on the dummy plate, blocked up a quarter inch to provide clearance for the bolt heads.
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A layer of glass on the forward and aft edges. After it has cured the forward edge of the new flap is separated from the tape and tucked under the pant, between the pant and the dummy plate. Then more glass, top and bottom, is added.
Astute observers will notice that the photo on the left is of the other wheel pant.
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Next, filling in the tire cutout on the bottom. Sand through the gel coat all around the area with a rotary tool and drum sanding bit. Then cut a piece of cereal box to the approximate shape, cover it with tape and attach it to the pant with masking tape inside. Apply two layers of glass.
Not photographed: after the resin cures, remove the cereal box and add more layers of glass on the inside.
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Now all that's left is the sanding....
2009-Aug-29
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During the inspection last weekend the DAR left me with a few things to fix - marking the fuel capacity, fuel gage,and controls.
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Also to be marked with red lines are the airspeed indicator and oil temperature gage. Here are a few shots of the inside of the ASI but the dial hasn't been marked yet.
The data tag had to be installed. He told me the FAA doesn't care where it's located but the DEA has some requirement that it be on the tail. So in case I ever fly to Mexico here it is, attached to the access panel under the stabilizer.