Jan 02, 2024     Finished - sort of!       Category: Paint / Decals

First flight Nov. 15/23. 20 Hr. as of now and all is well. There are still some details to finish when spring comes and it's warmer out.

  Oct 21, 2023     Finally!       Category: Inspection

Had scheduled my final inspection for today about 2 weeks ago. Passed with a few minor snags which were rectified on Monday Oct 23. Then winter came and dumped a pile of wet snow and minus 19 temps. This kept me from closing up all the access panels as it was too cold. Finally finished up and did some taxiing to get the feel of the controls. No oil leaks and no issues. Gear fairings have now been installed. Waiting for insurance to get back to me. A few more weeks of summer would be nice too!

  Oct 16, 2023     Out of the shop after 6 years!       Category: Moving day

Started engine in shop to make sure it would run before dragging it out to the hangar. Just idled it and was great. That afternoon I had help come to move it out on dollies and through the trees to the road. I hooked it up to the quad and pulled it backwards down the road to my strip and hangar. Then on Thur I had a friend come to set the computer timing. This was not a pleasant task shining a timing light up while the prop is idling. But it will never have to be done again - re SDS EFII.

  Oct 13, 2023     prop mount       Category: Propeller

Drilled the 3 prop bolt holes for the tiny magnets to operate the SDS Hall sensor and mounted the prop. It's a Prince Aircraft Prop.

  Oct 11, 2023     panel powered up       Category: Avionics

Finally time to power the panel and hold my breath. It all works and have spent some time in configuration. However, there is still much to do.

  Sep 28, 2023     decals and registration marks       Category: Paint / Decals

Finally have the decals applied and set date for final inspection.

  Sep 26, 2023     engine, exhaust and accessories       Category: Engine

Have finished the baffles and mounted the exhausts. Ran fuel lines and finished wiring.

  Aug 28, 2023     Baffles       Category: Engine

Having no old parts for templates, I had to start from scratch. I wanted the rear baffle to be 1 piece so after making the template I made progressive bends until it was done. I had allowed extra to allow for trimming. The sides are similar to the Cherokee and quite different from original.

  Aug 28, 2023     engine mounting       Category: Engine

Have the engine mounted and tried to fit the cowlings but now confirmed the 0-200 is 1/2' longer than the A65 original. So had to turn down the aluminum collars to allow the rubber isolators to fit closer. The cowl now fits, but it is tight.
Then proceeded to mount the new exhaust and found out the pipe is too close to the adjacent intake elbow. So I had to make a jig to press down the area where it was touching. Now it looks like the C-150 exhaust tube.
Have now included pics of the clearance after squeezing the pipe in a jig.

  Aug 21, 2023     Oleo inside cockpit       Category: Landing Gear

Have the carpet cut for the floors and have the cutout for the oleo to allow room for movement. Will cut a piece to fill the hole.

  Feb 28, 2023     prepping for assembly       Category: Engine

I had cut off the starter pinion earlier, but found out that it was still interfering with the new B&C starter gear. So taped up everything and used a Dremel to cut it down some more. Cleaned up the new wrist pins which were wrapped in sticky brown wax paper, gapped the rings and documented them. Arranged the new Superior cylinders and all nuts and washers needed for assembly. I'm using Lycon 9-1 pistons so had to eliminate 1 compression ring (only room for 3 rings).
A good friend and AME helped me assemble and torque the cylinders. Finished off the accessory case with new SDS coils, Plane Power alternator, B&C starter and Tempest oil filter adapter. I used silicone seals for the oil tank to crankcase and will also on the valve covers. We will do the push rods, rockers and covers after the engine is hung.

  Dec 30, 2022     cowl vents for heat       Category: Cowl

I worked on the vents for carb heat (although I have fuel injection) and cab heat. I may join the 2 for more heat in the future. Will glue and rivet them together. Then fill the hole someone made years ago in the wrong place.

  Nov 07, 2022     wiring       Category: Instrument Panel

I didn't think there could be so many wires in a simple, no auto pilot basic VFR aircraft. However, the fuel injection and electronic ignition add a lot more complexity to the wiring process. There will be a huge benefit in not ever having carb ice (0-200) and being able to adjust fuel flow individually to the cylinders to even out EGT and CHT. At this point it's like drinking from a fire hose but as they say - 1 wire at a time and label the ends.

  Sep 13, 2022     baggage compartment       Category: Fuselage

This is a mix of Luscombe 8A and 8E baggage compartments and some of my own ideas. I had planned to use .032 alum as the back and hat rack but was persuaded to use Baltic birch 1/8" instead and am glad I did. This will be a tiny bit heavier but much stronger and quieter. Primed 2 coats and finish paint..

  Mar 07, 2022     switch and panel layout       Category: Instrument Panel

Finally getting preplanning ideas onto the panel. Drilled, filed and fit the instruments and switches into their places. Finished paint and lettering and installed. Now the wiring phase starts.

  Jan 20, 2022     new trim cable install       Category: Tail Feathers

Having read about how hard this is to do, I wasn't looking forward to this. As my old cables were long gone, and I had not pulled any string through I ended up fishing some tie wire through both holes. After carefully taping the new cable sheaths to the wires my wife I and managed to get them through the stab. That wasn't all that bad but we didn't know what was to come. The elevator required pulling both through at the same time as they are so stiff - one up and one down. This proved to be extremely difficult as one would be out and then back in as we got the other one out.
We finally ended up pulling them back into the stab and extended to the back as far as possible. This allowed more room to manouver the sheaths into the elevator. We finally succeeded and clamped them to the tie down strips. Then had to push them back into the stab while lining up the elevator hinges. By far the most difficult part of the build to date.
Now that one elevator was on, the other one was easy as there were no cables.
Then brought stab over to the plane and attempted to get it into position. Bolted up the bell-crank and attached the elevator cables. It actually dropped right in and then we found out that the listed bolts required were 1 size too short. Now have to order 2 AN4-40A bolts and that will hold up mounting the vertical stab and rudder. Time for the scars to heal.

  Nov 22, 2021     Attaching wings after more than 45 yr. being off.       Category: Wings

Wings were ready to attach so collected some friends and did it. Had some problems lining up the left wing as one spar would go in and then the other wouldn't. We just could not get them to go at the same time. So we set it down on the saw horse and polished the spars and receivers with some fine scotch brite and then tried again. They went together but it was a bit of a struggle. The right wing went much better. Now I was faced with the question of is this thing going to fit through the door. Gathered some dollies and wheeled it out sideways and swung the inside wing around and had about 6" extra. The door is 20' wide. Good shop planning paid off! Can sleep in peace tonight.

  Sep 16, 2021     Tires and bearings       Category: Lighting

NOS tires (came with project). Was a little leery of using these, but after some discussion with experts I have mounted these with the stronger wheels (1500 lb) and new bearings.

  Sep 15, 2021     Wing tip Aero Led NSP and landing - wig wag lights       Category: Lighting

Powered these up and they work! Was my first experience wiring with Tefzel shielded wire. I used Deutsch connectors for all the lights.

  Sep 11, 2021     Main landing gear       Category: Landing Gear

Oleo and associated parts. Rebuilt oleo with double o ring bushing instead of the packing. New spring, all new brass bushings and new style gear shackle with anchoring roll pins.

  Sep 11, 2021     gear and brakes       Category: Landing Gear

There are a lot of small parts needed to get this together. New brake shoes, all new bolts, pulleys etc.

  Aug 17, 2021     Registration       Category: Paint / Decals

Received my reserved registration numbers a while back and finally had Total Impact from Lethbridge come and put them on. They will be back to wrap the cowl and letters on the fuse when I'm ready.

  Apr 04, 2021     priming       Category: Landing Gear

Primed gear parts

  Mar 31, 2021     prime and paint all small control and linkage items       Category: Controls

Finished bead blasting all small items, flushed with brake clean and then wiped down with wax and grease remover. Some of these were not so small - doors that have lots of sides. Hung up a whole bunch of wires to hold these pieces for painting. These small parts take way more paint then I imagined. Next will be all the landing gear assembly.

  Mar 27, 2021     first coat paint       Category: Wings

Finally received the primer which was back-ordered and got the wings primed. Shot the first coat of finish Sat morning and finished Sunday afternoon. Showed a few more bumps and dents on the wings than I thought were there, but hey - that's called experience! It's 74 years old!

  Feb 05, 2021     skylight       Category: Fuselage

I didn't want to replace the skylight with a new one by bolting it in as per the old one - 35 plus little bolts and nuts sticking out under to make you bleed in turbulence. So after some research I found that there is a STC for certified that allows a special rubber seal to keep the lens in. I bought this without the STC of course. This was not an easy job as the lens had to be big enough to fit but not too big to get in. With a liberal amount of windex and struggling I finally got it in and then had another job setting the rubber lock on the inside. Still worth it though as there are no bolts protruding inside.

  Jan 25, 2021     final fitting of landing light lenses and covers       Category: Wings

I had to heat one lens with the heat gun to adjust the curve to fit the wing profile. Then fuss with the brackets to get a tight fit while marking the location of the anchor nut plates. It was a stressful time making sure everything fit and took way longer than expected. However, it will look a lot better than some factory ones I've seen.

  Dec 10, 2020     polishing       Category: Wings

Left wing all polished. Need to final fit landing light lens cover and wingtips. And how could I forget - paint the leading edge.

  Oct 23, 2020     landing/taxi light brackets - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Yard and garden season is over! Time to start on the wings again. Installed light brackets and lens backing for landing/taxi lights. Got the left wing up and scuffed up with red scotchbrite to remove some scratches and corrosion. Now starts the Nuvite process on the biggest surface yet. All control surfaces are done.

  Apr 13, 2020     Paint under horizontal stab       Category: Empennage

Decided to not replace bottom skins as the dents could be filled and painted instead of being polished. Plan is to use silver - chrome paint that should be a close match to the polished top. Well this bondo is really something - it sets up real quick so can only fill small areas. The sanding becomes a real job. This stuff is hard! Finally got it to paint stage last night and got it primed. The top surface is finished polished. This probably added a few ounces exactly where I don't want it but was the easiest and quickest way out.

  Apr 06, 2020     Vertical stab - (2.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers

Installed the new steel fin/fuse fitting as per AD. Dave from QL Aviation came to guide and help me with alignment and riveting. He previously R&R the vertical stab rear spar as it was repaired and not acceptable as such. It's polished and awaiting assembly.

  Mar 18, 2020     Landing gear Category: Landing Gear

Bead blasted gear. Ready for prime and paint.

  Mar 12, 2020     wings part 2 - (10 hours)       Category: Wings

Opening up the bottom skins to install the wing tanks allowed me to bring in wiring for AeroLeds strobes and wig-wag landing lights. Also brought in lines for Garmin Gap 26 AOA, OAT, and GMU 11 for magnometer. This will be a Garmin G3X panel - don't flame me - the panel is completely butchered and cannot be brought to original condition. I will weld up the huge cutout and have one instrument - a 10.5" - G3X.

  Jan 27, 2020     Butchered       Category: Instrument Panel

Why would someone do this? It is a structural piece and is now rendered useless. A new panel is over $500 and needs to to fitted. I will cut a piece to fit and fill in and glue it in (Norton Speed Grip) as tig welding will cause way too much distortion.

New thought - I think I'll buy a new one.

  Mar 15, 2019     Polishing never ends��       Category: Fuselage

Polishing should save weight over paint. Not sure it's worth the effort though. Still lots to go.

  Jan 10, 2019     Build polish booth.       Category: Workshop

After a 12 year hiatus we brought the Luscombe out of storage to start the resto again. Built polish/paint booth inside my shop. I learned from polishing at my first shop that EVERYTHING gets a filthy black film on it - walls, shelves and floor and does not clean off. Will pull poly off the inside when done polishing and then install new poly outside with filters on one end and a fan on the other for paint. Plan is to paint the leading edge, wing tips, part of the cowl and the dual stripes down the side as per Luscombe design.

  Feb 01, 2007     polishing at old shop       Category: Fuselage

  Sep 14, 2006     Stripping paint       Category: Wings

Dirty job stripping paint - 5 layers in places.

  Sep 01, 2006     stripping 5 layers of paint in places       Category: Fuselage

Bought this Luscombe 8A that had been imported to Canada around 1975 and bounced around to various owners before I bought it.

  Jun 12, 2006     rotisserie       Category: Fuselage

should be easier to work on

  Jun 05, 2006     Trailering home       Category: Coming home

Trailering home.