Back to Business
After what seems like an eternity, Dan and I got back to working on the plane today. Lots of things have had a higher priority lately, including a horrible apartment fire in Norman, OK where my son was staying. He called us last Friday to let us know about the fire and that he was OK. You can read about it on his blog. (Yeah – he’s a great son and I’m very proud of him).
Dan and I also built a redneck air conditioner for the Viking since the temperature seems to hover at around 128°F in Texas these days. I’m gonna let him write up the post for that sidetrack. He’s trying to make money to play hockey this fall and thought there might be some other pilots interested in trying to beat the heat, so he’s going to build them for folks that want them. We stopped by Tina’s Pilot Shop the other day and Tina offered to sell them at her store on the field (52F). Give her a call at 817-490-0046 if you’d like more info.
Anyhoo, your probably wanting to know what Dan and I did today…
We rolled the leading edge of the elevators and started riveting…
We were supposed to use a 1″ steel pipe or wooden dowel to roll the edges, but didn’t have any handy. We substituted 3/4″ PVC thick wall conduit which seemed to work OK too. We marked a line on the pipe, then taped it to the leading edge of the elevator. Yes, that’s duct tape. Gaffer’s tape is supposed to hold better, but we didn’t have any handy, so we brought out the duct tape proving that you CAN build and airplane with duct tape (apparently you can also repair an airplane with duct tape).
Next, we used 3 pairs of vise grips to twist the skin. We also enlisted my wife, Carol, to help us out. After some twisting and turning we were able to get a fairly decent radius on the leading edge.
We then flippped the elevator over did the other side. I worked the bends with my fingers until things were a little closer to the proper radius, then we clecoed the skins together with the bottom skin on the inside.
Things weren’t perfect, so I got out the seamers and tweaked the edges a bit. We then riveted the edges, but I didn’t like the fit on the center section, so I called my favorite expert Walt. He said he’d stop by on the way to the airport tomorrow. Such a great guy…
We then started work on the second elevator and decided to roll each individual section this time. It was much easier to get an even bend when working with individual sections. As we were rolling the middle section on the bottom side (#5 of 6 bends), Dan noticed that the pipe was seriously bending the top edge. We stopped and assessed the damage – uh – I mean “situation”. I used the seamer to straighten out the bend, but thought I’d wait for an expert opinion before riveting the middle together.
We also used our aviation control surface installation and adjustment tool to insert the rod end bearings for attachment to the HS. We built the tool a month or so ago after running across another builder’s website. Works like a charm. I love the way people share ideas and experiences. Seems like there are always at least several ways to skin a cat.
We set the bearings to the proper 13/16″ from edge of spar to the center of the hole as per plans.
BTW, Dan is scheduled to take is PPL checkride on Saturday. I’m almost as stoked as he is.
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