Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Oscar, I used a compass that is sold for marine applications. It handles turbulence well. Here's a pic of it. Lots of changes between that picture and the finished airplane, but the compass and its box have worked well as originally installed. Cheers, Ken

You may find that the epoxy is hard to mix if the temps in the tent are too low. The hardener, in particular, seems to get very thick when temps are low. So a heater may be essential for you to work with the epoxy. If convenient, you might keep the epoxy and hardener in your home, as they can take q...

Pbcyfly,

Where are you located? That may make a difference to how the question is answered.

Cheers, Ken

Oscar, I'm pretty sure that came from the aviation aisle at Home Depot. I've found lots of certified-ish items there. Cheers, Ken

Oscar, I used the braided nylon hose as conduit for the wires from FWF to run up to the aft instrument pod. Not visible from the top-down photo is a small hole drilled in the hose at the low point when the airplane is sitting on the ground to act as a drain for any rainwater that might find its way ...

Richard, Like the heel brakes described by Barrett, mine are located under the front pax seat. I used Airheart small master cylinders. I designed mine to as flag pole levers. The attached photo shows them from above with the front seat removed. They are never in the way in flight. I have to pull my ...

Mike, I have the split axle as drawn on the plans. Measured center line to center line, the spacing between the tires is 58.5". Cheers, Ken

Shoulder harnesses too, I hope.

I too had a rabbeted recess. Hopefully you'll be able to see in the picture that, while the gussets lie flush, the capstrip doesn't quite fit flush in the rabbet. I used a hand plane and sanding block to feather the capstrips in so that there would not be an abrupt step for the fabric to negotiate. ...

Very nice! These will make all of the next steps easier.

Cheers, Ken

Oscar, I suspect the V speeds may vary a bit across Piets. Recall mine has an extra 18" of wingspan (9" per side). I found glide and climb tests to be lots of fun. They also helped sharpen my flying skills. For each test, I set up the glide a couple hundred feet above 7000' and would glide...

I used Lowry's Bootstrap Approach to Aircraft Performance when doing my Phase One testing of NX313KB. I highly recommend this resource. I found the best glide (Vbg) to be 57 mph. The glide ratio at that speed is 7.8 to 1. You can find documentation of these flight tests under the "Files" t...

You'll want inspection holes for places that need to be lubed or inspected annually. You may also want to glue in, during your original covering job, inspection rings and doilies in several places that might need to be opened for a future repair. For example, my pitot tube goes through the leading e...

John, Your 3/16" is correct. Blame it on a senior moment or just a wrinkle in the math multiplication universe. Are those the same thing, anyway? Yes, if you route out 3/16" from each side of the T-beam you will have removed a total of 3/8". That will give you a T that is 5/8" on...

John, Those are the dimensions that I used. It all begins to make sense when you start assembly the pieces. You end up with a bit of contour to the horizontal stabilizer. The handwritten 3/16" on the main beam is not quite right. Each of the sides of the main beam should be routed down 3/32&quo...

Here's how I handled the outboard wing rotator. I drilled a hole through the wing bow where the weight was approximately balanced and then installed a T-Nut on the inner face of the wing bow. I inserted a threaded rod from the wing to the rotator stand. A picture will make this clearer. Later, when ...

Dave, I'm impressed with your wing stands. I'm puzzled, though, how you are going to do the fabric covering on the outboard ends. Maybe you've got that figured out. I'm curious: how are you planning to do that? Cheers, Ken

Welcome Matt. You may have already heard this, but you should try to make it to Brodhead, Wisconsin, this summer for the annual Pietenpol fly-in. It occurs every year on the Thursday-Sunday morning, just prior to EAA AirVenture. Bring a camera, maybe a notepad, and lots of questions. Also, pickup th...

Mike, I suspect that using the same measurements above the ply floor as in the wood fuselage plans will work. Just a guess, mind you. My piet is wood, not steel. Good luck, Ken

Dave, here (I hope) are a couple of pics of the rotisserie that I used when covering and painting my wings. I can dig up more pics, if desired. Cheers, Ken

I fly with prescription bifocal goggles. I ordered mine from ClassicGoggles.com. The goggles come with a variety of lens colors (I prefer the clear lenses). The prescription part is a small oval piece that sits just aft of the lenses in a slot built into the goggles. Your optometrist or ophthalmolog...

Tom, how about a progress report or some pictures? Nothing like some atta-boys to get things moving again. Cheers, Ken

Joshua, I completed my Piet in 2017 and am based in Longmont (KLMO). Mine is O-200 powered. Also, Rick Holland built and flies a Corvair powered Piet. His is based at Meadowlake (KFLY). I am generally around the airport on weekends and the occasional evening. Send me a note if you'd like to come see...

Dan, I like how you have your panel laid out. I found doing mine that some of the instruments interfered with the aileron cables. I had to do some swapping about for the cables to have clear access. I put my compass on the underside of the center section, like you have yours. That wasn't my first pl...

Those parts look beautiful. But how much fun you'd be giving up by buying them. I cut all of my metal fittings with a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder, cleaned up with a bench grinder and sander. I didn't have (or need) a band saw. I enjoyed the process of making those parts. I also knew if I screwed one up...

Brian, I welded all my control horns using oxy-acetylene. I'm a rank amateur at welding. I think they turned out looking just fine, especially when viewed from at least 5 feet away. The key for me was using the smallest tip I had, which if my memory is correct was a size 0, and keeping the flame adj...

Arnold, the first step is to acquire the plans from the Pietenpol family. There is a link on the homepage of this website. Second step is to start making sawdust. (In between first and second step is to buy some sitka spruce. Most folks start with ribs. Those give you with minimal investment a sense...

On mine, I applied a piece of 4" Ceconite tape along the length of the gap, which was then masked and painted (using a small paint roller) to match the wings and center section. I did have to remove the wings a few years ago. To do that, I applied a sharp knife to the tape along the gaps. When ...

TonyP, I now have a split gear with the wire wheels on my Piet. Previously I had the solid axle, wood gear on it. I used 1/2" shock cord, with three wraps over the axle in-board and outboard of the wooden gear leg horizontal member. If memory serves, that took something like 5 feet of shock cor...

Oscar, I too saw this "helpful hint". One of the old-timers, when I was early in my Pietenpol build, showed me a much, MUCH, easier way of holding all the pieces together when making cables. Lowes, Home Depot, and other supply houses sell "copper split bolts" under a variety of b...