Unhappy with the way the front mounting tubes, for the front rudder pivots, looked... The tubes on the rudder pedals were too close to the angled tube just under them. Decided to cut the tacks on all the pieces for the front mounts.
I cut tabs out of .o95 4130, tacked to a piece of 1" tubing (the same size tubing that they will be welded to) heated them and bent into a radius, then cut them free. Welded these under the outer tube pivot mounts then realigned everything and tacked into place.
Spent the rest of the time finish welding all the tabs and tubes. Once welded I slid a length of .75 tubing through to make sure that they were not distorted and were still straight as an arrow. YES !
Jan 5
1.3hrs
Re-reading the biplane forum Skybolt manual and a few articles by MacKensie before I start back building the elevator/stabs. Always good to check these before plowing forward.
Jan 6
2hrs
Cut tubing for tail feather hinges and welded them together.
Jan 8
2.2hrs
Started cutting the hinge sections from the tubes I just welded together. It's so Sloooow.....
Jan 10
4.7hrs
Welded up two more lengths of 1" x .o58 and .375 x .o65 tubing to make more hinges. Cut all hinge pieces. After cutting to size I reamed all .375 tubing to .25" (that reaming is a lot of work) Pieces are now ready to be squared up in sets.
Jan 11
4.5hrs
Took the hinge pieces, in sets of three, and squared them up to each other using the 6" tabletop grinder. Needed to cut and ream two additional .75" wide hinge pieces... one of the other ones I took to the grinder to much and another... the 4" piece that I had cut it from, the 1" tube was kinda egg shaped looking. Not a good thing. I'm ready to make the tail feathers... I think.
Jan 12
2.9hrs
Needed to bend the four metal ribs for the servo trim tabs. Had already bent them to a "U" channel with 90 degree bends. Needed to rework these into 60 degree and 30 degree bends. Two down... two to go.
Jan 14
2.4hrs
I banged the other two servo trim tabs into shape in an hour. (must have learned something the other day) Had the four small metal ribs for the servo trim tabs to bend. Used the wrong line on the first one. (one gone) Started banging the second one in the bending block... just didn't look that nice. Not very straight. (two gone) Decided to go out into the garage work shop to
see if I could use the metal brake I still have from Whitey. SUCCESS ! Bent two up. I'll need to cut some additional 4130 for those other two.
Jan 15
2.9hrs
Cut two additional small ribs for the servo trim tab. Bent them into shape. Ready to be cut and fitted onto the elevator. Spent the rest of the session cleaning the table off, cleaning the insides of the hinge tubes and sliding them into place. Separated the metal ribs and located the areas that they need to go.
Jan 17
2.5hrs
Cut the trailing edge of the elevator to size for the first elevator. Notched and fitted four of the metal ribs for the elevator.
Jan 18
3.4hrs
Finished notching all except the one metal rib for the first elevator/stab set. (the one metal rib left needs to be notched and installed when it's mounted onto the fuselage)
Jan 19
2.1hrs
Reamed/cleaned three sets of hinges for the second elevator/horzontal stab set. Notched and fitted the trailing edge of the elevator and it's main spar. Notched and fitted two of the elevator metal ribs.
Jan 21
3hrs
Notched and fitted the remaining metal ribs for the second elevator/horizontal stab set.
Jan 22
2.5hrs
Bought a unibit and drilled the 5/8" holes for the servo trim tab shaft. Screwed in the jig blocks for holding the metal ribs in place on the elevator/horizontal stabs. Notched the small 3/8" tube on the inboard side of the elevator.
Jan 23
1hr
Disassembled the tailwheel that I purchased to make sure everything was in working order. Began to clean it up.
Jan 24
1.6hrs
Finished looking over and cleaning the used tailwheel that I purchased. Made a pattern of the tail end of the fuselage so that I could lay out the last stabilzer metal rib. Doing that now instead of waiting to mate it up to the fuselage.
Jan 25
N/A
Spent some time over at the airport speaking to Walt Hankinson. Talked about the radial engine and tossed around a few ideas on biplane building.
1.8hrs
Notched and fitted up the last metal rib on the one horizontal stabilizer. Double checked that it was correctly blocked then locked it in. Now all I need to do is tack weld and I'll be
ready to do the second one.
Jan 26
1.5hrs
Spent close to 2 1/2 hours on the "plane" tonight. One hour of it was wrestling it up the steps to the garage workshop, the other hour and a half spent tacking the one side, not happy with
the way the hinges looked tack and having to cut them loose and re-tack. The joys of working in tight quarters. I'm not going to add that hour to my build time.
Jan 28
1.5hrs
Took the first set of elevevator/horizontal stabs out of the jig and jigged up second set. The final metal rib still needed to be notched. The only thing left to do is drill the hole for the trim servo tab !
Jan 29
2.5hrs
Drilled the hole in the inboard metal rib, made a few minor adjustments with the grinder and then tacked the second set of elevator/horizontal stabs together !
Jan 30
1.5hrs
Wasn't happy with the trailing edge tightness to the jig. Cut the tack on four of the metal ribs, ground down so that the trailing edge fit right up against the jig, same as the first one, and then re-tacked. That's all for today.
N/A
Went back to re-read about the trim tab... riveting on the hinges, space between it and the elevator (1/2") etc.
Feb
1
(2hrs)
Beautiful weather... 48 degrees and sunny. Loaded up the fuselage and hauled it over to Denise's. She has a LARGE building with nothing in it. Time to build the landing gear !
Feb 2
3hrs
Started cutting out the fittings for the front landing gear attachment. Didn't take too long to cut the four pieces out with the bandsaw. It's taking forever to sand the edges smooth.
Feb 3
.5hrs
Cleaned up a few tabs that needed to be primed to keep from rusting.
Feb 4
2.3hrs
Figured out the measurements for making the axel support jig and drew it up on DeltaCAD. Located what tubes I had here for making the jig. Still need to order a small section of 1.5" x .058 tubing.
Feb 5
1.7hrs
Made a few adjustments to the Axle Jig Plans then drew it up on a piece of plywood and screwed in the jig blocks. Saturday I'll
measure, cut, notch and weld in the tubes.
Feb 7
2hrs
Actually spent a little over three hours on it today... only logging in two. A lot of running around and trying to find things. Anywho... Close to having the axle support jigs made. Another two or three hours and I'll be ready to make the landing gear.
Feb 9
2.8hrs
Notching and fitting the last tube for the Axle Support Jig. Put a few good tack welds to hold it all together. Looks like I'll need to tack a few spreader bars on them... one of them is pulling in a bit from me tack welding it. Cut the top pieces and drilled the holes for the 1/4-20 bolts. Looks like another hour or two before they're ready to be used.
Feb 11
2.5hrs
Finished building the Axle Support Jigs !
Feb 12
1.5hrs
Thought I needed to remake the front landing gear fittings. Made them... then looked again to find out
that I didn't need to. Studied the plans to confirm what tubing I needed and if I had it. Actually put in about 3 1/2 hours.
Feb 14
2hrs
Sorting through what to do as far as tubing size for the upper cross piece. Giving the Radial supplements a good look over; landing gear, gear fittings, torque tube.
Feb 15
2hrs
Still sorting through this stuff. I think I have it figured out. Threw it out to the biplane forum to ask. Should ask Whitey too.
Feb 16
1hr
Study plans for idler arms, reverser and torque tube. A lot more difference between S and R versions than I originally thought.
1.5hrs
Needed to get some oak to make the bending block for the front landing gear/flying wire fittings (not added to hours though.) Came back from the Home Depot and glue the two pieces of 1" x 4" x 7" blocks of oak together for the bending block. Printed out patterns and cut the additional tabs for the ears on the two landing gear/flying wire fittings.
Feb 18
3.2hrs
Cut out the four "heads" for the elevator linkage Idler Arms and sanded the edges smooth. Cut the bending block too small and had to reglue. Will try to cut correctly tomorrow night.
Feb 19
2.6hrs
Cut and routed the 1/8" radius on the bending block for the front landing gear fitting. Need to purchase a longer than normal drill bit for drill through the bending block with the ability to drill through both ears when they are bent over. Cut the two stick boots out of .o50 4130 and sanded smooth the edges that will not be welded up.
Feb 21
(5hrs)
Major workshop clean-up day. No time put into the build of the project, but needed to be done.
Feb 22
(3hrs)
Inventory day. Yeah... might as well continue on getting things organized. Took inventory to make sure I don't buy something that I already had. Good thing I did. Putting an order in tomorrow and I had some extra tubing, from full lengths that I didn't realize I had. Also, I just discovered... ACS sent me about six feet of 1.75" x o49 tubing and a length of .75 x o49 tubing I didn't even order. Could build a Boeing jet with this stuff.
.5hrs
Messed around with drilling a hole into the bending block. Checked to make sure the block was square to the drill bit but on coming out the other side it was dead on the one mark but off by 1/8" on the other. Hmmm ????