Jim
glued up one of the wings and held the joint
together with a bungee cord.
Jim wrote:
dude, here's some
pics from tonight. i put the cabane struts
on tonight.
nice fit and great extensive quality
hardware! thne i was to put the inter-plane
struts on the
wings...........BUT!!..........the instruc's
said they have blind nuts under the covering
to accept the 4-40 bolt but they lied! lied
like rugs i tell ya! hee hee:):) so i had to
install the blind nuts. the blind nuts came
with the hardware for the struts so i'm sure
it's a revision since production. had to
drill little tabs that fit in the struts and
in the wing to accpet 4-40's. that took most
of the night cuz i had to dremel out the
blind nut holes for a nice clean fit. the
holes were too tight in diameter. no
biggie...
Jim wrote: This pic
shows the nice workmanship on the struts.
Jim wrote: This pic
shows my method for uncovering pre-existing
holes under covering using a pencil
soldering iron. this burns the material away
and seals the edge of the covering at the
same time.
Jim wrote: This pic
shows the moment of "penetration"...
Jim wrote: This pic
shows the finished clean looking hole.
Jim wrote: This pic
shows the DOD method for drilling a clean
hole in plywood so it doesn't shred. soak in
CA then hit with accelerator.
Jim wrote:
This pic shows the finished clean hole.
Jim had to peel back the covering on the
elevators and sand the edge down so that he
could get more than 15 degrees on them
without them binding on the stabs.
The
3W 56 twin arrived! This engine is so
cool looking!
It sounds silly, but the thing is too cute.
Jim wrote:
Got the wings on tonight!
Just a few words of caution here.....Follow
the directions to the word and use "just a
little" CA to hold the wing strut tabs in
the wing while you're setting the struts up!
I used more then I should have and it oozed
out of the tab slots in the bottom wing and
very promptly glued the struts to the bottom
wing. ..........
I tilted the wing and ran thin CA along the
seam where the strut meets the wing so the
thin CA will seep into the tab slots and
further lock them in. I did this on both
sides of the strut at each tab position.
This made the tabs in the bottom wing bullet
proof.
I used very little CA on the top wing strut
tabs but one drop still managed to find it's
way out of the slot and glued one tab to the
strut. I kept working at it very slowly to
get the strut off and it finally came off
but took a small piece of strut wood with
it. I thin CA'd the piece back in and it's
stronger than it was!
So now the struts will remain on the bottom
wing permanently. Can't put the bottom wing
in a wing bag. But the top wing is free and
clear.
Jim's got the rudder servo in... we went
with a single
Hitec 5995 exterior mounted pull/pull
setup.
Jim used the ladder trick to mount the
engine. The paint came off the landing gear
when Jim pulled back the blue painter's
tape.
The tailwheel is the "small" by 3W Germany.
The 3W Germany style tailwheel is the ONLY
way to go. Accept no substitutes when you
call
Aircraft International to get them...
tell them you want the 3W Germany originals,
not any knockoff brands.
Jim wrote: Today
I made the tank plumbing. It's a 3 line
system like "DOD Joe" does. I also used
5/32" tubing instead of 1/8" with Dubro fuel
line barbs and zip ties. Joe also likes
using a heavy Dubro clunk so I put one on
the carb line and a standard one on the fill
line. Like Joe says, this method ought to be
pretty much "bullet proof"!
Jim wrote: We
needed 2-3/8" standoffs for the 3W-56 in
order for the spinner backplate to come away
from the cowl 1/8". The DA standoffs are
2-1/2" which would result in a 1/4" gap
between the backplate and cowl. My friend
Gus Stutsman has been a machinist for a long
time and has some very cool state of the art
equipment so we had him custom make us these
very cool 2-3/8" standoffs complete with a
hex shape on one end so I can get a wrench
on it! They're also drilled and tapped for
10-32's on both ends. These will result in
the 1/8" clearance we were looking for.
Thanks Gus! You da man!
Jim wrote: Got the
engine mounted tonight! Still have to cut
the hole for the carb which is off right at
the moment for easier marking of the bolt
holes. This 3W-56 twin is gonna be sweet!
Got the hole cut in the firewall tonight for
the carb...
... and linkage to fit through.
Jim wrote: Made the
aileron pushrods tonight using DOD
methodology. Bullet proof!
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