Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
Fuselage done and on gear, with tail feathers mounted (and then taken right back off).
Made the new control stick, so this weekend I'll hopefully be putting in the lower wing carry throughs, rudder pedals, and main controls.
Building an airplane is days of "fiddly work" where one does a lot of little things that don't seem to gain progress with sudden jumps where one goes "whoa, that's very much airplane like!"
I revised my plan to where I'm going to drive on with the fuselage until basically ready for cover, then move to wings, then engine.
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
I know I've been scare on the forums, and the damned website is dead (gonna have to find another provider and rebuild it) so posting photos is now hard, but folks, I'm alive.
Fuselage is in the "almost done" stage:
On gear. Controls are in. Seat is in. Floor is done. Firewall mounted. Turtle deck done. Entry step complete.*
I had Ron Wade (master of all things metal) of C&D Aviation (where I work) help me fabricate a good fuel float, which is going to work great.
As y'all know, I wrestled with fuel monitoring the whole time, and while my wreck had nothing to do with it (since I couldn't get reading that were satisfactory to me, I always topped it off at every stop), it still bugged me to no end. The problem is that the tank is wide but not tall. It's a gallon an inch, and the tank is ten inches tall. Traditional floats are designed for tanks that are narrow but tall - meaning that the darned things are narrow and tall, too. They hit the bottom of the tank when it's half full.
My long tube reading system worked, but I never liked it, as it was down and to the right inside the fuselage, meaning that eyes were down to look at it. It also suffered from tail down/tail up syndrome in inaccuracy (as all fuel sight tubes do).
The solution needed is a puck that will sit on the top of the fuel, not below it. So we made one out of thin tin (the copper we had was too thick), and it turned out great.
Cameras kinda crapped out, and I whipped out my phone for some of it, so I might be able to cobble together a video.
How we did it:
Cut a circle the size of the float we wanted (about four and a half inches) in MDF board, sanding down a small bevel around the edge, and sanding the plug out of it a bit to increase the kerf. We took the MDF plug, dug up a three inch pulley, put a nail in the center of it, and drew around it onto the tin, and then cut out the circle. On the MDF with the hole in it, took a bit of scrap wood, drew three lines going to the center of the hole (we really should have done this before cutting it out), and made marks on the lines and the wood to where the wood would hit the edge of the tin. Pretty cool centering technique; just put the tin down, push it with the stick until the lines agree on three sides. Put the MDF plug on top of the tin and repeat centering technique. Into the press with it (one of the big reasons I asked Ron to help), where in less than a minute we had pushed the tin into the hole to make what looked like an ashtray. Tappy-tap with a hammer around an idler bearing for a Sherman tank track - yep, we have one and use it for all manner of riveting and stuff - until it's a nice dish. Measure around the lip, cutting a clean line (a little less than an inch). Using a small set of smooth pliers, we bent up the edge of the dish to bring it to 90 degrees, checking for flatness on the welding table. We set this down on the sheet of tin, took an AN3 washer with a sharpie in the middle, and drew around the dish, and then drew around the dish as well. After cutting out the circle, we took the pliers and bent up the edge of the flat piece to 90 degrees. The dish went into this, and we beat this down to seam it them together. Heat and solder the join for water tightness, We then tinned a bit of 1/4 inch copper tubing (after making some flanges on it) and soldered it to the center of the float for the rod that will go up out of the tank to tell me how much fuel is left.
A week in water and no leaks, and with the rod she floats with about an eighth of an inch below the waterline.
Since the fuel flows out of a hole in the bottom of the tank and the float is flat and larger than this hole, I'll disaster proof the system by soldering some short pegs around the hole at the bottom of the tank in case the float ever gets a leak and sinks.
* Originally one stepped on the lower longeron with the left foot, bringing the right foot over the turtle deck to step on the seat, much like mounting a horse. But since I made the fuselage deeper, I found that my old stiff self was having trouble with it. The fix was to make a step that is four inches up from the longeron. Now I can get in and out of the aircraft easily.
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
Don't know; I've constantly underestimated times required.
I should have rebuilt this at the house, rather than the airport; it's a real time investment going up to the airport (an hour drive one way), and if I need something it's not a quick drive to anywhere to get stuff. The problem is space; I needed the old fuselage as reference. so double the room requirement.
For the wings, the longest time requirement is bending ribs, and I can certainly do that at home, as it's a simple jig and just long tubes to bend in it, and another jig to assemble them.
Here's a quick walk around video I made at the request of of the EAA forums.
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
I hope you get the correct degree of balance of Llamathrusts on the rebuild Dart, the inbalance of which I believe was the root course of your previous prang!
There was only 16 squadrons of RAF fighters that used 100 octane during the BoB. The Fw190A could not fly with the outer cannon removed. There was no Fw190A-8s flying with the JGs in 1945.
Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
Just got back in town and so the gear-and-tailwheel video should go up this week.
I'm waaayyyy behind when it comes to working on the plane and making videos.
Weekend before last I worked up the top sheeting for the fuselage, which is kinda a big deal. Now that it's done, I can mount the fuel tank, which means I can run fuel lines and also the throttle cable (it goes over the fuel tank); with that out of the way I can mount the battery and run the wiring.
That gets out of the way I can make the side sheeting.
Fuselage is getting real close to being finished and ready for cover.
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
hahaha....just being lazy with it.
Fuselage is wrapping up, with just a few things to do before waiting for cover and paint:
Mount the side panels forward. Make a better mount for the throttle cable. Make a much, much better brake handle mount. Sheeting over the cockpit area. Re-make the rudder stops.
The new wheels need the brake drums mounted, which is always a huge pain.
Going up to the hangar in just a little bit to see how much I can get done.
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Has anyone ever told you that you are the spitting image of Enrico Colantoni?
"In the vast library of socialist books, there’s not a single volume on how to create wealth, only how to take and “redistribute” it.” - David Horowitz