Jan 27, 2019     Finishing up aileron cables and fuel tank cover. - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

  Jan 05, 2019     Aileron Cables, layout - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Measuring at the wing root for aileron cable. In both directions, to get starting point for other holes to cut for aileron cable.

Created a cheat stick to layout all the holes to rib 6.

Assume a ⅞” hole for the bushing (one each at root, rib 6 and rib 10.

  Jan 01, 2019     More work on aileron cables and fuel tank. - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Used ruler (see photos) to locate fuel drain port - be sure that the tank is solidly in the place it needs to be.

Be sure fuel outlets are also correctly in line prior to drilling. See tricks below using drill in the fuel-line connections to line up to wing rib for drilling.

Once fuel line connections are done, then drill a small hole in the cover to double-check (it will move based on strap position.)

  Dec 06, 2018     Called Mark G with a few questions: - (1 hour) Category: Wings

1. Aileron control cable routing - where is the fairlead tube described in the forum post by Brooks Cone?
2. Fairleads +snap-rings seem to be designed for a ��ick bulkhead - use a spacer for mounting to ribs?
3. Thickness & size of doubler for holes to close to the rib lightening holes?
4. Sheet metal above the aileron cable near flap linkage - when to button down?
5. Put in a rope for the aileron cable?
6. Fuselage order - when to deliver? Piggyback order?

  Nov 05, 2018     Fuel Tank Access Panels - (2 hours) Category: Wings

Adding nut plates for upper edge of access panel.

  Oct 21, 2018     Access Panels Finished! - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Well at least on this wing… Tried to install the nut plates for the fuel tank bay, but don't have rivets deep enough. Needs 3-5 rivets, I think. On order!

At least everything is drilled now.

  Oct 13, 2018     Continue Access Panels - (3 hours) Category: Wings

Seems to go on forever, but slowly getting an assembly-line process going.

  Oct 07, 2018     Continue Access Panel - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Ok, found a way to avoid c'sinking issues (above) - here are the steps
1. Make sure that all perimeter rivet mounts are drilled in the mounting ring.
2. Drill all the nut-plate holes with #40 (including the hole for the screws, unless using nut plate jig, then drill (non-corner) center hole with #28).
3. Drill rivet plate mounting holes with #40.
4. Counter-sink nut plate mounting to accommodate flush rivet.
5. Mount nut plate with flush rivets.
6. Counter-sink screw hole with #40 piloted c-sink. Use drill press with stop set at depth to allow #6 screw head to sit flush - the pilot fits into the nut-plate hole nicely.
7. If the counter-sink in step 6 doesn't go deep enough (and the pilot hole wasn't drilled #28 in step 2), you may need to come back and drill it to allow the screw to go into the nut-plate.
8. Use the edge-rolling tool to bend the edges of the cover down. BEFORE DIMPLING!
9. Dimple the #6 holes. (Vice-grip style doesn't seem to work as well for this - not quite square.)

Some pix… Drill pilot holes:

  Sep 24, 2018     Continue Fuel Tank Cover and Access Panels - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

More drilling, countersink-ing and deburring.

Need to find a better solution for countersink-ing the screw holes in the ring, per the “instructions”, the cs causes the screw hole to be oversize and (worse) out-of-round.

  Sep 17, 2018     Fuel Tank Cover - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Began adding nut plates to area around the fuel tank. Figured that the corners would be much cleaner with “corner style” nut plates, and there's a place near the top that has some overlap that will better support a “one-legged” nut plate.

Note that Aircraft Spruce didn't have the one-legged type, so I ordered some from Stein Air.

  Aug 12, 2018     Install Access Covers - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Kevin dropped by and lent a welcome hand finished up drilling the smaller access covers and then we began installing the access covers on the wing.

Initial pix show a more accessible part of the wing skin; Kevin & I used a piece of 1⁄8” plywood to hold the skin flat while putting the ring down.
Later pictures show that the location in the skin doesn't have easy rear access, so we contact-cemented in a piece of the plywood to hold the cover in (for sizing the cover as well as stiffening the skin.)

  Aug 05, 2018     Start Access Covers       Category: Wings

Practiced some nut plate installs on scrap, then began work on the access covers. Drilled for nut plates. Be sure to keep track of the cover and each ring,as well as orientation. Initial nut-plate holes are sized #40.

  Jul 07, 2018     Rivet and fit the Bottom Straps - (2 hours) Category: Wings

Had to do a bit of massaging of the bends to get the tank in straight. Now I see why some folks suggest adjustable straps on the top as well as the bottom.

  Jun 30, 2018     Test Installed Bottom Straps - (1 hour) Category: Wings

Need to look at the rivets I have and make sure that they are AD rivets. Check how flush the tank filler should be - currently it's sticking up about a ��om the skin.

  Jun 22, 2018     Prime Bottom Straps - (0.5 hour)       Category: Wings

Use the green primer to cover any scratches, etc. I created while forming and drilling the straps.

  Jun 21, 2018     Drill Bottom Strap Rivet holes - (0.5 hour) Category: Wings

Next time - countersink better! Had to redo them the next day - dummkopf!

  Jun 20, 2018     Fabricate Bottom Straps - (1 hour) Category: Wings

  Jun 16, 2018     Riveted the strap ends together. - (1.5 hours)       Category: Tools/Parts

Finally back in town - managed to get the strap ends done. Used the rivet squeezer - note that measured rivet dimension (e.g. diameter of “shop head”) are minimums. Screws are 1 1/2” (at least on the right wing.)

  May 26, 2018     Trip to Aircraft Spruce - (1 hour) Category: Tools/Parts

Next time just order on the Internet - takes less time and is more accurate.
Put away all the purchased parts and tools. (Time does not include travel time :-)

  May 24, 2018     Trimmed & installed straps - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Note above straps have 1/16” cork and then ⅝” heat shrink (not yet shrunk). Without cork, 1/2” heat shrink would work (shoot a small squirt of silicone spray into the heat-shrink to allow it to slide on without excessive cursing.)

  May 23, 2018     Drilled straps - (0.5 hour)       Category: Wings

Evenly spaced per blueprint.

  May 22, 2018     Cut tank strap ends to length - (0.5 hour) Category: Wings

Initial bend, marked hole locations.

  May 20, 2018     Continuing Tank Install - (1.0 hour) Category: Wings

Bent the top straps around tank, using adhesive-backed cork as a separator between the tank and strap. Will be putting heat-shrink tubing around the straps, hopefully it's flexible enough to go around the bends. (Turns out it worked out well.)

  May 19, 2018     Planning and parts. - (0.1 hour) Category: Wings

I'm going to need some primer for the straps I'm cutting and drilling. Also the vice needs a ‘soft' jaw to keep from marring the surface of the straps when I bend them.

  May 06, 2018     Tank Install - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Used spray glue to attach compass-drawn circle with gorilla tape attached. Peeled off so it wasn't sticking super tightly to the tank filler spout. Used ⅛” plywood spacers to space the tank from the top and left (wingtip) side (per conversation with Mark, and kit hints).
Placed tank in the bay, reached in with my fingers and pressed tape down. Lifted out the tank and the paper stuck. Note that some of below pix are the left wing (as I forgot to photograph when I was working on the right wing, grrr.)

Borrowed some lipstick from Mei-Ling and marked the filler neck. Had Mei-Ling hold the spacers while I set the tank in and made a mark on the paper with filler tank lipstick. Bingo - perfect match to my circle (this last step with the lipstick was just a double-check). And no, she did not want the lipstick back…

Marked Center, center drilled, step drilled to used 2"punch to cut the filler neck hole.

Cleaned burrs. Perfect fit. Yeah…

Began assembling the tank strap tensioner per the kit instructions and discovered that the 10-32 threads were crudded up and the drilled through-holes were undersized. Ran a tap through the former and drilled out the latter to 0.191”.

  May 05, 2018     Parts arrive - put them all away. - (1.5 hours) Category: Tools/Parts

  Apr 29, 2018     Another Aircraft Spruce order… - (0.5 hour) Category: Tools/Parts

  Apr 28, 2018     Fuel tank start - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Installed aileron pulleys. More hardware to buy - a reasonable hw list would sure be nice!
Fuel tank - neck cutting

Note spacers to allow tank to be removed. Kept the bubble-wrap on to protect the wing skin; need to put some masking tape down on the skin stiffeners to protect them.
Hmm - does the tank need to be painted?

  Apr 07, 2018     Some cleanup - (2.5 hours) Category: Wings

Tweaked the rotisserie and pulled out the torque tube. Figured out all the correct screw lengths for the aileron and flap hinges. Reamed the bearing mount to exact size. Still trying to figure out how/when to mount the hinge mounts.

  Apr 06, 2018     Aileron hinge bearing mount - (2 hours) Category: Tools/Parts

Got all the parts for the aileron hinge mounting. Flap hinges need to mount to the rear where the flap mechanism is installed. Have to do some work to the rotisserie to allow the torque tube to be removed.

  Mar 31, 2018     More parts arrive Category: Tools/Parts

Got the parts for the aileron mechanism and flaps. Darned if I didn't get the wrong parts for the aileron - do NOT trust the Bearhawk parts list! It's close, but either it never got proofread, or the Model B made changes that were never incorporated. Live and learn!

  Mar 26, 2018     Aileron hinge support Category: Wings

Aileron hinge support- don't quite fit, need a bit of finagling to make them fit. Need to order a few things: an3-14a (1), an4-16a (3), also MM-3.

  Mar 23, 2018     Chat with Mark - (1 hour) Category: Research

Chatted a bit with Mark, mentioned a few of the above items - I placed his answers below each item (see above). He also recommended looking at the online Bearhawk web blog (yeah, I've been watching it, but hesitate to ask until I've learned enough about this stuff to know what are dumb questions).

  Mar 18, 2018     Random stuff Category: Research

Torqued all wing nuts to spec. See 1 below.
Added Flap arms - See 2. Below.
Added Aileron bellcrank.

1. Is it normal to use AN4 (bottom) and AN3 (top) bolts on the aileron and flap mechanism supports? Only AN3 are specified in the plans.
a. Mark says this is ok. Bigger is fine.
2. The instructions say to “3. Position and drill outboard actuating arm.”, but later it says to wait until the wing is mounted: ITS RECOMMENDED THAT THE OUTBOARD ACTUATING ARMS BE DRILLED WITH THE WINGS ON THE AIRPLANE.
3. When to install fuel tanks?
4. Trial cable install?
5. When to rivet down the skin?
a. Mark suggests to wait on the wing fitting to button up the wings.
6. How to know which updates that I need - have been reading all the bear tracks newsletters and continue to see new ones in each issue.
a. Per Mark, none of the updates are critical, but all updates up to Model B introduction have been applied.
7. Some suggestions from Mark on the tank installation:
a. Make sure the tanks are as far outboard as possible.
b. Bias the tank forward or back to leave room for the tensioners.
c. When strapping the tank - attach some kind of felt, cork, etc. to the straps to add grip and reduce vibration.

  Mar 17, 2018     Rotisserie - (1.5 hours) Category: Tools/Parts

Finish lower shelf on rotisserie. Handy place to stash hardware (nuts, bolts, etc.)

  Mar 02, 2018     Frustrations Category: Research

Dang this is going slow, need to get my butt in gear here and try to make some progress, but everything I need to do I have to look up to see if the part is correct, and how (not trusting the dang manual) read multiple places to completely understand to avoid making an expensive botch. I really think somebody ought to review the kit manual…

  Feb 26, 2018     Out of town for work, but got a handful of hardware ordered from my list. - (1 hour) Category: Tools/Parts

  Feb 17, 2018     Began list of parts needed from the above appendix - (1 hour) Category: Tools/Parts

Aircraft Spruce has a useful ‘wishlist' feature to allow one to create different lists (e.g. parts, tools, hardware, etc.)

  Feb 16, 2018     Found parts list Category: Research

Found list of parts in the kit manual (for the fuselage).
There are two appendices - one with systems listed (e.g. flaps) with associated parts, the second is more of a shopping list. Based on what I've seen, I figure it will be useful, but not necessarily correct or complete. Need to double-check against the drawings, Eric Newton's manuals, Russ Erb's CD and ?? .

  Feb 14, 2018     Ordered Checks and a few miscellaneous tools from Brown - (1 hour) Category: Tools/Parts

  Feb 14, 2018     Email Response - (0.5 hour) Category: Research

The Trailing Edge Rib - if I'm looking at the print correctly, this part
should have some lightening holes, correct? That's no problem, but (as
I mentioned) I'm still getting used to figuring out what goes where and
I want to make sure I'm looking at the correct part.
MARK: I think the trailing edge ribs do have lightening holes. You should have one per wing. These are what the aft part of the wing tip attaches to.

* The Pocket Rib Skins listed are not the same lengths as listed - did that
change?
MARK: What counts is that they fit where they go. I suspect the packing list might not have changed the sizes of those when we went to the Model B wings. But check how they fit - that is what counts.

* Two (2) Trailing edge wing stiffeners are listed, but one seems to be
already installed.
MARK: Yes. Because the upper wing skin is already riveted down - we could install that part. But the bottom wing skin is not finish riveted which has to happen before this part can be installed.

* The Main Tank Stiffeners already seem to be attached? MARK: Yes

* I can't figure out what/where the False Spar Shim is.
MARK: This is a part we used to include but it is no longer needed because of the way we do the rivet spacing. It should not be on the inventory list but is a holdover from the past.

* Flap Spring Arms - are these the same as the Flap Arms (that are already
attached)? MARK: I imagine that is the case.

  Feb 14, 2018     Thinking, create parts list - (1 hour) Category: Research

Stare at the prints some more.
Need to generate a list of hardware (bolts, nuts, rivets, etc.) to get.
Rivets: MS-20426-AD3, 426-AD4, 470-AD3, 470-AD4, 470-AD5,
Pop Rivets: ?” SS
Bolts: AN3, AN4

  Feb 14, 2018     Tool order - (0.2 hour) Category: Tools/Parts

Ordered Clecos and a few miscellaneous tools from Brown
https://www.browntool.com/

  Feb 13, 2018     Emailed Mark regarding inventory/parts questions. - (0.5 hour) Category: Research

  Feb 10, 2018     I got this rolling, finally! - (3 hours) Category: Workshop

Thanks KevinB for dropping by and helping out.

Drilled out pop rivets to get access to under skin.

Basic inventory of parts - issues:
* The Trailing Edge Rib - if I'm looking at the print correctly, this part should have some lightening holes, correct? That's no problem, but (as I mentioned) I'm still getting used to figuring out what goes where and I want to make sure I'm looking at the correct part.
* The Pocket Rib Skins listed are not the same lengths as listed - did that change?
* Two (2) Trailing edge wing stiffeners are listed, but one seems to be already installed.
* The Main Tank Stiffeners already seem to be attached?
* I can't figure out what/where the False Spar Shim is.
* Flap Spring Arms - are these the same as the Flap Arms (that are already attached)?

Created simple skin hold-up (1x2 wood the length of the skin, and sticks of wood with duct tape hinge at skin side; small finishing nail on rib side.)

The rotisserie is holding, but needs a bit of help holding the 2x2s that are under the wing. Need to get a metal support here.