Last night I left work a litte early and got to work prepping the fuselage. First was the final shrink at 300ish degrees and I must say that it shrunk up very nicely. With that done I went over the edges and tapes and stuff with the little iron and worked as many wrinkles and bubbles out as possible. There were a few that gave me a little trouble but other than that it looks pretty good. I guess practice really does make perfect, I keep getting better and better at getting decent results.
With everything ironed i cleaned and rinsed the fabric and started brushing EkoFill on the fuselage. Things were moving along but its a slow process and then Nick showed up! That was great as I did a little prep work on the elevator while he brushed ekofill and then i started to work with my own brush on the fuselage. We worked away for a while making good progress and then Leah showed up! All right! Now the three of us were making handy work of the fuselage and I was encouraged that we actually would finish it that night. Nick eventually had to leave and there was just a bit left on the fuselage so I let Leah finish and I brushed wood sealant on the elevator. Soon the fuselage was done and the sealant dry so we cut a piece of fabric and started brushing glue on the elevator.
Covering the elevator actually went really well. I was able to wrap it in one continuous piece of fabric and was happy with my cutting and ironing abilities in making it look decent.
Tonight we'll have to shrink the elevator, clean, rinse, and prime it. Also I believe everything will need a light sanding before spraying primer. Otherwise we'll be cleaning and taping and getting ready for spraying primer tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Right Wing
Last night Leah and I got out to the gliderport after work and got to work. There was just a little glueing left to do on the wing roots and we needed to run tapes along the intersection between the root and fuselage. Neal, Charles, and the usual cast were out at the gliderport enjoying a nice, but windy, day. A few people were flying the 2-33. We also brought the horizontal stabilizer and elevator out so that I could start working on cleaning up the horizontal and covering the elevator.
I got right to work going over the right wing with the iron trying to find any wrinkles or bubbles and get them knocked down before it is too late. With that complete Leah got started with the primer and I went to put myself in line to fly the 2-33. I needed to get current as I may have some rides to give this weekend. I had a little time before they were ready for me so I started working on the wing roots. I was just starting to put the tape on when it was my turn to fly so I went out and did 3 pattern tows just before sunset. It was great! I can't really remember the last time I flew a 2-33 from the front. The tows went well and I made nice landings and pretty soon the glider was put away and I was back to work. I finished the tapes while Leah finished the bottom of the wing. The Pate boys all stopped by to check in on progress before they left.
With the fuselage tapes done I got to work with Leah on the top of the wing. It went very smoothly as we brushed and brushed to our hearts content. Harry and Sue stopped by on their way home from work to inspect and seemed to approve of what we've done so far. Had a nice chat while we finished up the brush work. Then I worked some bubbles out of my new tape and called it a night.
Tonight I'll do a final shrink on the fuselage and go over everything one more time to make sure everything is as smooth as possible and then we'll get to work priming the fuselage! Hopefully I'll have some time to work on the elevator as well.
I got right to work going over the right wing with the iron trying to find any wrinkles or bubbles and get them knocked down before it is too late. With that complete Leah got started with the primer and I went to put myself in line to fly the 2-33. I needed to get current as I may have some rides to give this weekend. I had a little time before they were ready for me so I started working on the wing roots. I was just starting to put the tape on when it was my turn to fly so I went out and did 3 pattern tows just before sunset. It was great! I can't really remember the last time I flew a 2-33 from the front. The tows went well and I made nice landings and pretty soon the glider was put away and I was back to work. I finished the tapes while Leah finished the bottom of the wing. The Pate boys all stopped by to check in on progress before they left.
With the fuselage tapes done I got to work with Leah on the top of the wing. It went very smoothly as we brushed and brushed to our hearts content. Harry and Sue stopped by on their way home from work to inspect and seemed to approve of what we've done so far. Had a nice chat while we finished up the brush work. Then I worked some bubbles out of my new tape and called it a night.
Tonight I'll do a final shrink on the fuselage and go over everything one more time to make sure everything is as smooth as possible and then we'll get to work priming the fuselage! Hopefully I'll have some time to work on the elevator as well.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Great work weekend
First - big thanks to Leah, Neal, and Nick for helping so much this weekend. Friday night leah and i worked from 9-1:30. Yesterday I put in something like 15 hrs, and today was 10.5 hrs. Well over 50 man hours into the project this weekend and I wouldn't have gotten very far if it wasn't for my friends.
A little repetition here but I'll add some pictures.
Friday night Leah and I worked on the left side of the fuselage. Had some major frustration that I fixed on Saturday morning. It was kind of a rough start to the weekend actually and at 1:30 AM we threw in the towel. Here is Leah putting glue on the fuselage:
Saturday morning after breakfast I worked on the left side nose some more and got the massive wrinkles out. It was a close one and still not perfect as I didn't have a lot more shrink left in the fabric to get a tight surface. But we carried on the right side of the fuselage. It went MUCH more smoothly than the left side. Neal was hanging around along with a bunch of guys at the gliderport. Several showed up to assemble the club Grob, a few people were out flying in the strong Kansas wind, and others were working on their own aircraft. All told 15 or so people probably stopped by to check out our progress. Here is the fuselage with the left side covered:
Pretty soon we had the right side on and Nick had showed up to help which was great. We started to work on the last major piece, the top. It went on really easy, no compound curves like the nose! By midnight everything was glued and I had done a little bit of tape work on the nose, so we called it a night.
Today the goal was to finish the fuselage and start priming the wings. Leah and I decided to divide and conquer so she started working on priming the rudder and ailerons and I hit the fuselage. I needed to make some reinforcements around the nose area where most damage happens on out landings. Also I ran a tape down the skid and along the belly to the tail, and along the upper longerons.
Nick got to work on the wing roots and did a GREAT job getting the fabric to lay nicely in the curve between the fuselage and wing. By 8 PM he had the tops and bottoms covered and looking very very nice!
Harry and Sue stopped by and inspected our work although when I offered harry an iron he didnt take it :) Nice to see them though.
Leah did a good job getting the control surfaces primed and about 6:30 we started on the wings. Neal had helped me with an iron and went over the top of the left wing looking for any wrinkles. We decided it was good enough and started brushing. By 8 the cross coat was finished so we flipped the wing. I gave it a good looking over with the iron and then we got started. Clean, Rinse, and then went crazy with the brushes. Right around 9 PM we were finished and called it a weekend.
Tomorrow Leah will work on brushing the other wing while I finish iron the fuselage and get it ready for prime. I'll also hope to do some work on covering the elevator (finally!). Then Tuesday I hope to start priming the fuselage and finish the elevator. Maybe by thursday and friday we can do the spray coats of primer and then next monday topcoat!
A little repetition here but I'll add some pictures.
Friday night Leah and I worked on the left side of the fuselage. Had some major frustration that I fixed on Saturday morning. It was kind of a rough start to the weekend actually and at 1:30 AM we threw in the towel. Here is Leah putting glue on the fuselage:
Saturday morning after breakfast I worked on the left side nose some more and got the massive wrinkles out. It was a close one and still not perfect as I didn't have a lot more shrink left in the fabric to get a tight surface. But we carried on the right side of the fuselage. It went MUCH more smoothly than the left side. Neal was hanging around along with a bunch of guys at the gliderport. Several showed up to assemble the club Grob, a few people were out flying in the strong Kansas wind, and others were working on their own aircraft. All told 15 or so people probably stopped by to check out our progress. Here is the fuselage with the left side covered:
Pretty soon we had the right side on and Nick had showed up to help which was great. We started to work on the last major piece, the top. It went on really easy, no compound curves like the nose! By midnight everything was glued and I had done a little bit of tape work on the nose, so we called it a night.
Today the goal was to finish the fuselage and start priming the wings. Leah and I decided to divide and conquer so she started working on priming the rudder and ailerons and I hit the fuselage. I needed to make some reinforcements around the nose area where most damage happens on out landings. Also I ran a tape down the skid and along the belly to the tail, and along the upper longerons.
Nick got to work on the wing roots and did a GREAT job getting the fabric to lay nicely in the curve between the fuselage and wing. By 8 PM he had the tops and bottoms covered and looking very very nice!
Harry and Sue stopped by and inspected our work although when I offered harry an iron he didnt take it :) Nice to see them though.
Leah did a good job getting the control surfaces primed and about 6:30 we started on the wings. Neal had helped me with an iron and went over the top of the left wing looking for any wrinkles. We decided it was good enough and started brushing. By 8 the cross coat was finished so we flipped the wing. I gave it a good looking over with the iron and then we got started. Clean, Rinse, and then went crazy with the brushes. Right around 9 PM we were finished and called it a weekend.
Tomorrow Leah will work on brushing the other wing while I finish iron the fuselage and get it ready for prime. I'll also hope to do some work on covering the elevator (finally!). Then Tuesday I hope to start priming the fuselage and finish the elevator. Maybe by thursday and friday we can do the spray coats of primer and then next monday topcoat!
Mid weekend update
Friday night Leah and I got a late start and worked really late and ended with the left side of the fuselage tacked in place but some massive wrinkle issues in the nose. This morning with a little sleep I was able to take care of the wrinkle problems and we finished glueing the left side on. Then to work on the right side which, with a little experience, went a lot smoother. Nick came over, and he and Leah put the top on while I worked on some inspection holes and tape on the nose. So the glider is basically covered at this point but we still need to shrink the top, finish taping the skid and belly, reinforcing the lower nose area, burning in drain holes, and cover the wing roots. So tomorrow I'll get started doing that and Leah will start EkoFilling the control surfaces and maybe the wings!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Glider moved
My garage is empty for the first time since we started. Tonight Neal and I moved the fuselage and wings out to his shop. He's got a paint booth about the size of my garage set up inside it! So starting tomorrow night we'll work on covering the fuselage and putting EkoFill on everything, then painting. Leah, Nick, and I will all be working through the weekend to get as much done as possible, then we'll be out there every night next week getting the topcoat on. Here is a picture that Neal took:
Good news in the Cherokee world. Den Barton emailed today with a report on his progress on N10124, the original Cherokee RM. He has finished the open cockpit canopy. Looks really nice!
Good news in the Cherokee world. Den Barton emailed today with a report on his progress on N10124, the original Cherokee RM. He has finished the open cockpit canopy. Looks really nice!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Is that Nitrous?
Tonight I just a had a few little things to work on. First Leah and I did a little rearranging so I had a little more room to work on the fuselage. Then I got to work on some more cockpit related stuff. First I mounted the Microphone. Ended up screwing it into the canopy rail up by the instrument panel with mic extending back towards where my head will be. Then I hooked up the antenna and radio and tuned in a local AWOS so I could test the speaker volume. I couldn't remember how loud it was and that made a difference on where it was mounted. Turns out it is plenty loud so I mounted it under the dash up in front of the stick (WELL in front of the stick). This should work out nicely and be out of the way.
Next Nick and I soldered the microphone wires back into the radio wires. That went pretty smoothly. We also cut out about 10 feet of extra wire which will be nice to not have to worry about. Once we finished that it was time for me to head to the YMCA with Leah.
Quote of the day goes to a neighborhood kid who stopped by while we were working. Leah fielded his questions while Nick and I were working. Typical what is that? who built it? stuff like that. Then he spots the oxygen bottle and says "Is that Nitrous???" classic :) I told Nick I should get a NOS sticker to put on the glider. Maybe it'll make me go faster.
Next Nick and I soldered the microphone wires back into the radio wires. That went pretty smoothly. We also cut out about 10 feet of extra wire which will be nice to not have to worry about. Once we finished that it was time for me to head to the YMCA with Leah.
Quote of the day goes to a neighborhood kid who stopped by while we were working. Leah fielded his questions while Nick and I were working. Typical what is that? who built it? stuff like that. Then he spots the oxygen bottle and says "Is that Nitrous???" classic :) I told Nick I should get a NOS sticker to put on the glider. Maybe it'll make me go faster.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Oxygen Bottle in!
I didn't get a lot done this weekend but made a little progress. Friday night it snowed and Saturday was pretty cold. Leah and I went to a Monster Truck rally and then took a nap. As a result we didn't make any progress on anything.
Today though it was warmer so I got out to the garage in the afternoon. I had bought some 1" square aluminum tube and 1" strap for the oxygen bottle mounts. So I spent a little time measuring, cutting, sanding, drilling, fitting, trimming, and bolting. I also had to trim the seat bottom so that I can remove the clamps. In the end everything is bolted down and fits. I took special careto make sure that everything clears the stick and control cables. It's all good. I also dug up the old brackets used to locate the battery along with the velcro to hold it down so I re-installed the battery too. It's looking good!
Supposed to warm up over the next few days so maybe we'll be glueing fabric on the fuselage soon.
Today though it was warmer so I got out to the garage in the afternoon. I had bought some 1" square aluminum tube and 1" strap for the oxygen bottle mounts. So I spent a little time measuring, cutting, sanding, drilling, fitting, trimming, and bolting. I also had to trim the seat bottom so that I can remove the clamps. In the end everything is bolted down and fits. I took special careto make sure that everything clears the stick and control cables. It's all good. I also dug up the old brackets used to locate the battery along with the velcro to hold it down so I re-installed the battery too. It's looking good!
Supposed to warm up over the next few days so maybe we'll be glueing fabric on the fuselage soon.
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