Mar 01, 2024     Lofting Sketch - (5 hours)       Category: Research

Spent the evening trying to put the seat and the upper surface of the fuselage in their best orientation. Harder than it seems it would be. Very little guidance from the plans except that Ray Stits' seat height was 6" from the bottom of the tubing. Met him once at Oshkosh, he seemed like he was a little shorter than average. Hard to imaging altering the dimensions if I get it wrong. Wish I could figure out how I could sit in my AC and check.

Got some parts from Aircraft Spruce but spent fully half the cost of the parts getting them here. Going to have to find some local suppliers near Columbus.

  Feb 17, 2024     Canopy - (3 hours)       Category: Research

So many canopy designs! Want one that slides back for TO and landing but doesn't add months to build time. Also don't want to have to "blow" a shape because of visual distortion which may result. Sorta favorite so far is the FW-190 from WWII.

  Feb 16, 2024     Cockpit Dimensions - (1 hour)       Category: Research

Managed to score some typical cockpit dimensions from Tony Bingelis' book. Going to have to work out a way to sit in the space to get it right for my sized person but this will get me in the ball park I hope. Lots of moving parts. Maybe the seat support structure needs to adjust to let me get in and out comfortably.

  Mar 07, 2023     Lofting - (3 hours)       Category: Research

Airplane Lofting, William Nelson, 1941. Hope it helps but so far, haven't been able to decipher. Working on the shape of the fuselage/canopy. Intuition and the shape of the other aircraft I've observed may have to be the final word. Wish I were good at the English Wheel so sheet aluminum could be curved a bit.

  Feb 20, 2023     Fuselage formers - (3 hours)       Category: Research

Plans have no guidance on formers so went to look/did some more looking on the internet. Think I've settled on tabbing the structural tubing and using formed aluminum pieces to give the rounded fuselage shape I need. Hydraulic unit to punch large holes sounds safer that the fly-cutter I've used in the past and it has dies which press a flange on the holes to make them less likely to bend. Still planning to continue with spruce stringers in the rear of the fuselage.

Saw a Jungman(?) with stringers tied to the tubing. Must be about the lightest way to attach them. Still inclined to tabs.

  Feb 16, 2023     Thursday - (3 hours) Category: Research

Couldn't find a 24 tooth bandsaw blade. Closest I could come was 18T. 1/18 = .055 so I should be able to cut my .050 4130 sheet stock without trouble (one tooth the same size as the thickness of the material?). We'll see.

Got firewall galvanized material and tubing for the fuselage front section. Think maybe I need steel rivets for the flange around the firewall to prevent corrosion. Another Aircraft Spruce order. Sigh

Going to an EAA seminar on ATC Communications. Hope to learn something new!

  Feb 15, 2023     Hatz Visit - (2.5 hours)       Category: Research

Visited Wesmar to see how Wes's plans had attached the upper surface of the fuselage between instrument panel and firewall. Got a couple of ideas but will have to sketch/weigh to see which works better. Ordered a light welding hose from TinMan + adapters. Nut plate drill guide/screws/.050 4130 plate coming from AC Spruce.

105"x 1/2" 24Tooth band saw blade being built. Can't wait to see how it does on 4130. Have a bunch of nut plate tabs to build.

  Feb 11, 2023     Tail Feather Pix       Category: Research

  Feb 11, 2023     Tail Feathers - (3 hours) Category: Research

Purchased J-3 empenage but the surfaces are just too large. Makes sense since that is a two person AC. And there's no graceful way to cut them down. So.....spent some time looking for structures that I wouldn't mind scratch building. Plans are too simple and I don't like the trim system called for, I always make a project harder.