Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Chuck in Indiana

Good as new..

Chuck in Indiana

The turtledeck is done.. I guess I'll use the 14 X 1 for the tip bows. Thanks!

Chuck in Indiana

Looking at the stock I have from when Bill bought everything..I have two 1X1X 8 ft. and two packages of four 1/4 X 1 X 8 feet. Maybe the two packages were meant for the tip bows and the 1 X1s were for the fuselage somewhere? Is there somewhere in the fuselage that uses 1/4 X 1 spruce that I don't se...

Chuck in Indiana

(cross posted from the Pietenpol facebook page..) Uh oh. I've always said that scratch building an airplane is simply solving one problem after another until there are no more to solve. 😏 20 years ago (!) when Bill was building this Piet, I made the steel parts for him as he brought me drawings. The...

Chuck in Indiana

Nice work, Richard. I'm a machinist, not a woodworker, but have been learning about hand planes on this Piet project. It's strangely satisfying watching a chip roll of them.

Chuck in Indiana

I have routed 1 inch spars also. The routing didn't take long, and I got to buy a new tool. :D Who doesn't like new tools? I have a couple of planes, now.. router bits.. a really nice chisel set from England..a tool to sharpen them, and have made several table saw tools. And yes, the weight savings ...

Chuck in Indiana

Yeah, a block plane is great for this and things like trimming overhanging plywood, etc. Carefully going at it with a chisel works too.

Chuck in Indiana

Nice work.

Chuck in Indiana

Yeah, the center section is pretty easy because the rib is more inboard than on the wings and you just have to clear the fittings. I've done essentially the same on the CS.

Chuck in Indiana

Saw it on facebook.. it'll get you another Attaboy here.

Chuck in Indiana

Thanks for the answer, Ken. That seals the deal for me. I'll do the same way as I did the center section.. varnish the fitting area, install the fittings for the last time, and do whatever it takes to get the rib on. Beef it up as necessary, or "Hammer to fit in field, paint to match."

Chuck in Indiana

Here's where that lower fitting and bolt interfere that I was talking about a while back.

I wish the west coast site was up so I could look at what others did. Move the hole, or just cut up the rib?
Finished adding 2.4 lbs. of lightness to each spar today..

Chuck in Indiana

Adding some lightness..

Chuck in Indiana

I'd pony up some cash, too..

Chuck in Indiana

Chuck in Indiana

Whew..

Chuck in Indiana

Attaboy..

Chuck in Indiana

What is that crack all about?

Chuck in Indiana

Waiting for the T88 to set up

Turned over the flop and added the 1/16" ply.

Time to start on the wings, I think..

Chuck in Indiana

Richard Roller wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 9:30 pm I'll remove the plywood with a heat gun and a thin piece of stainless steel sheet. I did it for years while working on 767's.

Removed a lot of the plywood from the truss today. I also removed the rest of the controls that would be in my way.

Does that work with T88?

Chuck in Indiana

Whew! Thanks, Pat.

Chuck in Indiana

404 not found
Uh oh. I was getting some really good info there. Anyone know what is going on?

Chuck in Indiana

How do you plan to get the plywood off? That looks like a tough job to me..

Chuck in Indiana

Sometimes, worrying over a problem is worse than actually doing it.

Nothin to it..

Chuck in Indiana

Thanks, Ken. My little Japanese pull saw made quick work of separating the flop from the center section. I've since glued on the spar caps. Still need to install 1/16" gussets on the ends of the false spar and flop spar. Then..I think I'm ready for the big job.. fitting up and gluing the 1/8 bi...

Chuck in Indiana

Compression struts and flop spar glued up..

Chuck in Indiana

It's a Legal Eagle. I was just showing the concept of the building table. The spars are very light, though.. and the wing has been tested to 4Gs.

Chuck in Indiana

If you sheet the bottom, it makes a very stable box. Also, if you move the I beams inboard a bit, you can store long things on the outside where they are handy.
Ferinstance..

Chuck in Indiana

My guess is bad manufacturing process, and all from that batch will do that. I'd try to get my money back and order from somewhere else. (shrug) What a PITA.. I ordered green epoxy primer from ASS, and it was white. Mislabelled. Told them about it and they sent me more white that was labelled green....

Chuck in Indiana

Is that an old library card catalog against the wall? That it is. :D It holds end mills from 1/32 to 4 inch dia. Drills, reamers, counter bores, taps, dies, tap & die wrenches, etc. 60 years (gasp) of machine shop stuff. I'm turning the machine shop into a wood shop as we speak. :D They don't c...

Chuck in Indiana

Couldn't put it off any longer and started gluing..

Chuck in Indiana

Not at a high load area like cabane/strut/LG attach. I would think aft of the cockpit would be good, but a properly done scarf joint is substantial.

Chuck in Indiana

braol wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 5:45 pm I was meaning the wooden fuselage version of the Piet...I plan on covering mine, I was just wondering if the airplane can be flown without the rear fuselage fabric...from a structural, not an aerodynamic standpoint.

Of course it could.

Chuck in Indiana

Thanks, Ken. Yes, it is a really good dawn and dusk patroller. :D I built it during the pandemic for something to do thinking the fun would be in the fabrication. I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying flying it. Think Cub with lighter controls, the doors open on both sides, and a really ...

Chuck in Indiana

FWIW, Bullet (as in slower than a speeding)

Flies much better than I anticipated from looking at it. I guess my main concern would be weight and balance. Since many Piets are tail heavy anyway.. it might be a plus.

Chuck in Indiana

That's good enough for me. Thanks!

Chuck in Indiana

^^^^^ I can't imagine what would be wrong with doing that..
and
after all, the stab is wire braced. You can take out minor (and fairly major) imperfections at final rigging.

Chuck in Indiana

Westcoastpiet.com

Wow! Now *that's* a treasure trove. Thanks, Oscar..

Chuck in Indiana

Yeah, I've searched, but haven't found any info to speak of on what they look like, and where they go on the wing. I just finished making the lift strut fittings, and thought I may as well do the jury strut stuff, too. Of course, I could wing it (see what I did, there) but don't want to reinvent the...

Chuck in Indiana

Thanks, Ken. I'm not a woodworker, and the only router I have is a little trim router. It was making wooga wooga noises just as I finished the last pocket. I've been surfing the net looking for a bigger one for the main spars.

Chuck in Indiana

A little progress.

I keep seeing flops made from the plans mentioned. There certainly aren't any in the drawings I have.. I'd like to make it like the drawing, no need reinventing the wheel if it's not necessary.

Chuck in Indiana

am so concerned with visibility that I covered a friend's L2, with the caveat that as long as I am alive it will never be olive drab. Safety of flight item.

I once had a Bellanca 14-13 that was camo with roundels, etc. we called "Spitlanka." It worked *entirely* too well.

Chuck in Indiana

That's horrible, Richard.. I'm truly sorry. Yes, you need *something to do.* Maybe build a double wall area with painter's drop cloths and 2X4s you could heat?

Chuck in Indiana

Yeah, Ken.. I was the airport kid that hung out there when my parents didn't know where I was. :lol: I was forbidden to mess around with airplanes, "All those things are good for is to get you killed, boy." The restaurant is still there, but the girls that inherited the property decided th...

Chuck in Indiana

Hi, Ken.. I live on a farm near Elwood. We have a private strip..2II3. Yeah, I can see how the center section spar fittings and wing fittings fit together. What I'm talking about is the apparent interference between the lower 3/16" bolt on the wing fittings and the root rib.. and the center sec...

Chuck in Indiana

Back from California, and can (finally) get started on this. https://static.imgzeit.com/reduced/4138917c18749796/20240105_144557.jpg The interference I was talking about is the center section fittings will hit the main spar scab plates unless they are cleared for them. The lower 3/16 bolt in the mai...

Chuck in Indiana

Will do. Thanks, Oscar.

Chuck in Indiana

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words.. Thanks, guys!

Chuck in Indiana

While I'm planning a couse of action on building the center section, I've searched here (maybe not well enough) for pix of how people have done the flop. I'm *assuming* There needs to be a sub spar aft of the rear spar strong enough for a hand hold and to hinge the flop from? Any pix of that constru...

Chuck in Indiana

Thanks for the replies, and especially the pix. :D The interference I was talking about is the center section fittings will hit the main spar butt unless the angle on the lower spar is moved outboard a bit. I'm out in California with the grand kids for Xmas, so don't have the drawings in front of me...

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