In the sun

Yesterday, I mentioned the one man rigging tool I had to make because all my buds were at VA EAA.
Here are a couple shots, worked great.

The nice feature is that even if the jack/wood rig fails it can only fall to this position.

This morning I did some research on the aileron control system, I could not modify the AN115 shackles to work like it showed in the parts manual. I decided to go with the PA11 setup which uses two flat pieces of steel on either side of the stick control arm. I found these in the Univair catalog for $5.31 . I made a couple of test parts from some scrap to see how it worked. After lunch I went out and assembled the aileron control system. After correcting a few minor discrepancies, I think it will be OK. With that complete I did one last rigging check before I took it down from the jacks/stands. The rig is set between what the STC calls for(1&1) and what a Vagabond uses(2&2 1/2). The dihedral is set at 1.5 degrees and the washout is a blond hair more that 1.5 degrees. With that checked, I  fitted all the original wing root fairings and marked them for modification or re-manufacture. I will probably make 4 new, but these are easy flat sheet. I needed to vacate the loaner hanger so the rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning up and moving back into my hanger. Here are a few shots of her out in the sun.

I will probably have to take the next couple days off. Sunday I have to return a favor owed and Monday I will have to catch up on yard chores. I will hit her hard again next week, check back for updates.

Rigging complete

As forecast today was a beautiful day to work on the Cub. I planned to do all the rigging today, but my buds had other chores . I started by leveling the fuselage. I could not use the factory level points because they had been covered with the interior fabric. I ended up using the "V" tubes that come aft from the cabane to the rear wing fittings. I managed to get the tail rigged pretty close. The lower right wire is a little tight because I had to use it to pull the fin over to be vertical. It should unload a little in flight from the down force on the tail. I was about to give up when I got a brain storm on how to use my Little Giant ladder, the prop box, some wood scraps and a floor jack, to make a wing lift. This rig allowed me to unload the strut fork bolts so I could remove them and adjust the forks without any help. I ended up having to compromise on the wing rigging because I ran out of rear strut adjustment. I got the wash out right at 1 degree however the dihedral angle is about 1/2 degree too much. Here is a shot from the front, kinda looks like it will fly.

I know that it looks crooked but the water level indicates the wing tips are the exact same height. I'm sure it will take a little fine tuning because so many of the ribs have repairs and minor distortion. I then fitted the jury struts. I will use these to push down the right struts about one blond hair thickness to eliminate a little lower door rub.

I still have not completed the aileron installation. I ran into some cable rub problems due to the wider PA12 front struts. I need some thicker bushings here and that means longer bolts.

All these details take time but she's finally starting to look like an aeroplane.

Wings!!!

The plan was for the help to show up at 9am, so I went out at 7:30 to get everything ready for assembly. I had all the bolts laid out and the struts complete. We used my super ladder with a Sensenich propeller box and a blanket on top. I tried to keep the parts marked as to where they were when we took it apart, but 4 years is a long time. With one man at the tip and two at the root we installed the root bolts, then rested the wing on the ladder rig while we fitted the struts. It all went smooth with no damage.We put the easy wing on first.

The only thing more difficult about the left side was the pitot lines and the forward spar bolt had to be put in from the other side. With my expert help this was no problem. Here they are, they are still in shock , they have never helped me put a plane back together!  It took less than an hour to put the wings on.

There is still a lot of rigging to do, and it will require some compromise because she is old and a little bent and twisted in spots. The STC calls for 1 degree dihehral and 1 degree washout. That is almost the same as a Vagabond. We spent the next hour trying to make a water level, it's a good thing were not plumbers because we could not fill a tube with water? With the wind kicking up to 30 kts we decided to knock off until the nasty cold front passed. Tomorrow should be a fantastic day. Here are a few more shots, looks good back together.

Hanger complete

Got an early start today and completed the hanger. I just did some housekeeping and rearranging on the right wing side. I also tied the fabric back up on the Commonwealth fuselage. The plane fit in with room to spare. After lunch I installed the muffler and it fits great! I guess the 4th time is the charm. It really would have been the 3rd time if they had just followed my instructions. It now clears the gascolator fine and all the hoses are accessible. The pipe is just a little off on the hole in the cowl, but perfectly acceptable. Here are a few shots.

After I finished this some really big thunderstorms rolled through, so I took an early dinner break. My friend Scott will be out of town this weekend so he offered his hanger for assembly and rigging. After the rain was done we got everything setup for assembly tomorrow. The plan is to meet at 9 AM weather permitting.
 Here she is, so close!

Check back in tomorrow, I'm on a roll now! The end is in sight.

Almost there

Got out to the airport late morning and got everything ready to move the Bridgeport. Quick phone call to the Airport manager Donald had this Volvo down in less than 5 min.! He came down with the fork attachment hanging from the bucket. The operator does not even have to get out, he set down the fork, then detached the bucket and then picked up the fork attachment. Took 30 sec max. Really slick setup.

We then laid out the safety rules. Since I only have $800 in the mill and it costs that much to get in the door at the Urgent Care, if she goes , let her go. We picked it up by the head tube, with some boards to protect the machine.

It took two tries , and we got it a little off center on the pallet but it should be OK. Main thing is it's out of the way.

I spent the next couple hours moving stuff around , trying to make room for the Cub. I got it so the tail will go in first , but I'm still about 2 foot short of getting the nose in. Some rain showers moved in early afternoon and since the plane is outside during this operation, I had to bag it for today. Tomorrow morning should finish the hanger project.

When I got home the UPS man had left me some presents! All the engine parts back from Aircraft Specialties and the muffler back from Dawley. Everything looks great and I will try the muffler tomorrow. Hopefully the 4th time will be the charm. I'm shooting for Friday to put the wings on.

Progress slows

Spent the day trying to make room in the hanger for the Cub. I turned $27 of wood into this pallet for the Bridgeport Mill . I built it to fit a standard pallet jack of 27 inch width. Not sure you could move the thing with a pallet  jack,  but at least it will be up off the floor . It's all 4 by 4's and 2 by 6's , hopefully it will hold the thing, it's just over 2000 lbs. Unfortunately I finished too late for Larry to bring down the fork lift, maybe tomorrow.

Right now the Mill is right in the way of using the hanger to store an airplane.

Hopefully with it over here by the wall, I can use the Mill and have room for the airplane. A win win situation!

This is holding up wing assembly, so got a get er done.

Struts

The weather person promised sunny and warm today and they delivered. I started this morning by flushing the struts with mineral spirits , mainly just to see what came out. I had borescoped these struts and what I could see looked really good. I put a quart of mineral spirits in and it came out just as clean. I let these drain completely during lunch, then I put in a mixture of 60% paralketone and 40% mineral spirits. I put in 24 oz and got out almost 23 oz . I let these drain for a couple hours then removed the plastic covering from the powder coater and installed the new stainless strut forks. After dinner I took them out to the airport and stored them for assembly.
Here they are draining before lunch, real shade tree aircraft maintenance.

Here are the new Univair forks installed with those expensive special Piper strut bolts installed.

Here they are draining. I like to get as much out as possible, a thin coating is all you need.

After dinner I took the struts to the airport and worked on the wing fairings a little. I will probably make new pieces that go around the windshield, these fit OK but are mismatched and have a bunch of extra holes. It won't be much work and will look much better. Here's a couple shots with the skylight installed.

As you can see some of the attach holes are right on the edge of the material. That was about it for today.
Here is a shot of BC for his mom. He just loves this Aeronca Champ seat, just the right size for a cat.

Housekeeping

Really not much visible progress so far this weekend. Made the skylight window Saturday morning, then managed to crack it during the trial fitting. I could use it but why not do it right. I knew I should have bought two pieces of plexiglas when I was in Norfolk. Oh, well !  I made the mistake of copying the existing window and the next one I make will have some Jerry mods. The smoke gray will look really sweet.
  I also finished the rudder control system and the tailwheel steering. Here's a shot of the installation.

Spent the rest of Saturday working in the hanger to make room for wing assembly. Here are a couple shots of the fuselage outside in the sun.

I'm not sure but I think I like the smaller diamond on the right side better.

Since it will be really warm today, I have the messy job of putting some Paralketone into the wing struts. With any luck the wings will be on next week.

Tail complete

I did manage to get a little work done today. I really needed the plexiglass  for the skylight so today was the day for the trip to Norfolk and Norva Plastics. I will not even attempt that trip on a Friday much less a holiday Friday. I picked out the gray smoke tint and while they were cutting it ,I had a pleasant lunch with my Dad and Helen. Traffic was not really too bad with the normal moving slow down at the entrance to the tunnel. I went out after dinner to finish the tail. I started with a through inspection, then installed the cotter pins in all the rotating bolts and clevis pins. I then set the elevator control cable tension and safety wired the turnbuckles. After one last inspection , I installed all the tail inspection covers. Here it is all finished up.

 

I am still working on adjusting the rudder cables , because of my extra large dogs the rudder pedals need to be just right so I can get to the brakes and rudder at the same time.

 

I am pretty happy with how all this turned out, tomorrow I start on the skylight. It will be so much easier to do all the fitting with the wings off. Here's one last shot, sweet!!

Got Tail ?

Since my hanger faces NNE, and the sun is brutal in the morning, I decided to go out after lunch today. I started by cleaning and lubricating all the trim mechanism components. It's my understanding that this is a problem area on the clipwings because of increased loading. Everything got cleaned and fresh grease, the stabilizer leading and trailing edge tubes got some Boeshield , then the stabilizers were installed.  I then installed the bracing wires and did an initial rigging on the stabilizer. The elevators were then installed and the controls hooked up. Of course I forgot to bring out the manual and my cable tension tool so I did not get it all finished. Here are a few shots.

There is all new hardware installed in the control circuit.

The Univair stainless tail brace wires are really sweet and worth every penny.

I need to sit down and go over this with the parts manual in hand, this was all wrong when I bought the project. When it looks right , I just need a few cotter pins and safety the turnbuckles and she's ready to button up. I will probably take tomorrow off, check back Friday for more progress.

Early morning

Got up today at the crack of dawn for the trip to the airport. Everything went smooth and only saw one cop,  he must have been dreaming of donuts because he never even looked. I dropped the fuselage in front of the hanger and headed home for breakfast and morning chores. Here she is at the hanger.

Here is a shot of the 4 point towing setup. Two ratchet straps go aft and two froward. They all attach to the tailwheel fork that way the fuselage can pivot in turns. The two slack straps going forward are just safety straps. You have to be careful to tie far enough aft in the bed so that the sharpest turn does not hit the side of the bed. Tows great like this.

I spent the morning working to get the garage ready for engine assembly. After lunch I loaded up the tail feathers and went out to work on hanger. The goal for the afternoon was to make room for the fuselage. It only took about 3 hrs work and 2 hours of bullshitting with airport bums to get er done. I think there might actually be infinite space in a T hanger because no matter how I try I can't seem to fill this one! It will still take some work to make room for wing assembly and to get the tail in the right way.

Lucky for me the airport manager has a fork lift to move this.

The bridgeport and the loose fabric on the Commonwealth are all that's holding up wing assembly.  She sure looks good in the hanger. The fuselage went home August 29, 2010, not sure why it took 8 months but were getting there SLOW but sure.

Tomorrow morning the tail goes on for final assembly. Check back for pictures. I think I'll try to take BC out to the hanger one day to see if he likes it, lots of stuff to sniff in there. He's really not crazy about riding in the car.