Brodhead Pietenpol Association

KenBickers

Good eyes. I'm glad you caught the crack now and not when it might matter later. It seems you're doing this just right!

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

On my Piet, I have 1" routed spars. I saved approximately 12 lbs with the routing. That might not sound like much. But my empty weight is just a tad past 700 lbs (I have a full electrical system including alternator, starter, com, transponder, and ADSB-out), which means that the routing equaled...

KenBickers

I've had good luck using a small handplane. I find that I can take several short, careful strokes removing thin slices of the hardened glue until there's just a faint layer of glue left. At that point, it's a good time to declare success.

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

Chuck, I went back through my pictures. I found this one. If you look closely, you can't really see it in the pict, but the vertical interstice braces are half thickness where they pass over the wing attach brackets. Be sure to radius the notch, so that the brace doesn't want to split where the cut ...

KenBickers

Count me in with another attaboy!

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

Chuck, now I see the conflict to which you were referring several weeks ago. Yes, I had the same thing. I left the holes where the plans showed them and cut a notch in the rib gussets (and if I recall part of one of the interstice braces). It all fit together fine in the end. Though my recollection ...

KenBickers

Chuck, it's looking great. Nice!

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

I don't think you are being too picky. Plywood shouldn't come apart that easily. I only used mahogony in limited places. It took quite a bit to cause the surface plies to lift off. The force had to be applied perpendicular to a cut edge and even then caused modest chipping of the surface ply. Mostly...

KenBickers

Chuck, That's a great looking shop. I especially like your worktable ... a smart way to keep assemblies square and true. Is that an old library card catalog against the wall? I'd love one of those to hold the bits and pieces that are in too many little boxes in my hangar. I may have to do some sleut...

KenBickers

Chuck,

Great looking airplane. I bet its a hoot to fly low and slow on warm summer evenings.

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

Braol, I don't have the skill set to say what the aerodynamic impact of leaving the aft fuselage uncovered might be. What I do know is that fabric provides no structural integrity (except perhaps long term by protecting the structure from the elements). I agree that it would look cool. One of the tr...

KenBickers

On my first attempt at a fuel tank, I made one out of fiberglass ... or tried to, at least. What I learned was that I knew just enough about fiberglass to make a mess of it. It was very heavy and leaked. On my second attempt, I made it out of cardboard and duct tape. After careful measurements, I se...

KenBickers

Chuck,

Looks terrific. I love those routed surfaces!

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

Master cylinder plungers.

KenBickers

Richard, This is so terribly sad. I'm so sorry for you. Maybe there are some things you could do at other folk's (heated) hangars or perhaps up in Oshkosh that would let you sharpen the skills that you'll be using once the weather begins to become more welcoming. Week after next, EAA is hosting a wh...

KenBickers

Bob, I see what you mean about the rake angle. That's pretty severe. I've attached a couple photos of mine. You'll see that when the plane is leveled up (with the top longeron as the datum), the rake angle is actually negative. When it's in the three-point attitude on the ground, the rake angle is j...

KenBickers

Clever! You may find the O-rings will stay healthier if you periodically wipe off the plungers after landing/taking off on turf runways and during heavy pollen seasons.

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

Chuck, I seem to recall years ago flying my Pacer into a diner for breakfast or lunch in Elwood as part of group from the Bloomington EAA chapter. There were two turf runways, N-S, and E-W. I thought that was just about perfection -- a diner and turf runways. Cheers, Ken edited to add p.s. It might ...

KenBickers

Chuck, Good spar stock has become increasingly tough to find. Congratulations on finding yours. I think that routing out my 1" spars was about the scariest part of my hold build process. In the end, it was pretty straightforward. As for the interference, note that there is 3/32" plywood un...

KenBickers

Interesting. Kind of a head scratcher as to why someone would do that and an object lesson in why sticking to the plans is usually smarter than trying to out-think the original designer.

KenBickers

I don't have any information about this particular airplane. The fuselage looks to be straightforward Pietenpol Aircamper. I wonder, however, if the wing has been "borrowed" from one of the old-style Fisher Flying Products airplanes. Those used geodetic construction pretty much throughout ...

KenBickers

Bob, The A frame design has been around a very long time. I'm not a fan of non-steerable grocery cart-style tailwheels, but I understand that they have been used on Piets in the past. I welded a Van's RV type steerable tailwheel assembly to my A frame. My suggestion is to measure the rake angle with...

KenBickers

Vagabondpilot, Yes, the "flags" of the flagpole setup are under the front seat, but only barely. As with all heel brakes, when you want to apply brakes, you shift your heals just inboard of their regular, natural position. After a couple minutes of practice, it is as natural as the motion ...

KenBickers

Bob, "Outside box, think we must," Yoda might say. Or put differently, there's more than one way to skin a cat. I have heel brakes and master cylinders under the front seat on my Piet. I used AirHeart Small Master Cylinders. They are attached to flagpole heel brakes, rather than lever arms...

KenBickers

So ... Everything about everything in airplane design is a compromise. My flop, like Oscar's does not lie flat on top of the wing. And like Oscar, I've had mine blow shut in a strong wind, which has almost always -- okay, always -- been my own fault for starting the engine with the flop in the uprig...

KenBickers

Yep, good figuring. Fittings are generally steel parts. They are the things that attach two (or more) distinct parts, like horizontal stabilizer to vertical stabilizer, wing to diagonal struts, center section to cabane struts, fuselage to engine mount, etc. There will almost always be plywood under ...

KenBickers

Chuck, After my earlier posting, I continued to ponder what you were seeing that might require removal of spar material in order for bolts to clear the spars. My sense is that you are onto something which is lurking on the plans, but may be a bit obscure. You'll find on the plans for the three-piece...

KenBickers

Chuck, I'm not sure I'm seeing the issue with the interference that you are describing. The wing root ribs don't sit at the exact end of the spars. They are inset about 3/4" or 1" or something like that (the plans are at my hangar, not here at home with me). If you are building the three p...

KenBickers

Looking good, Chuck. One part, one task, one assembly at a time. Eventually, you'll run out of things to build and will have a whole airplane.

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

Looks good, Bob. Nice job on the cover.

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

Welcome Chuck! That's a fine looking Legal Eagle. Love that engine on it. And touching story. Thanks for sharing. As for the five cylinder Verner, the only one that I know of is owned by Kenny Crider and/or his son. Kenny is active on the Facebook group. You might post a query to him. Meanwhile, a l...

KenBickers

Mark, My Piper Pacer at the moment is in California with my younger son. My recollection, though, is that the rudder horn and tailwheel horn are the same width, such that the cables/springs connecting them are pretty much parallel. If that memory is correct, the lever arms on both are the same. That...

KenBickers

This evening, I was at my hangar for a couple hours. I thought it might be interesting to measure the hole-to-hole distance on the repurposed Van's tailwheel in its stock configuration. It is six inches between the holes. I also measured the hole-to-hole distance on my rudder horn. Mine is 10 inches...

KenBickers

Mark, Oh boy, now you're about to open a huge can of worms. More electrons have gone to electron-heaven over this debate than almost any other than whether a Grega should be allowed to be considered a Piet. I haven't searched the Old Forum Archive for this question. You might want to see what's ther...

KenBickers

Oscar, as an FYI, I had a conversation about this issue at the time with Douwe Blumberg. He had had a similar experience and had also added extensions to his tailwheel horn. I suspect his are more artfully installed. I've seen his Piet in person several times, but have been so wowed that I didn't no...

KenBickers

Oscar, A bit of background. My rudder horns are built to plans with the holes spaced approx. 10" apart, as you indicate in your message. I repurposed a standard Van's RV tailwheel for my Piet. The horns on those have the holes about six inches apart (I don't recall the precise distance, though ...

KenBickers

Mark, I'm sure full swiveling has been done. It probably works fine if operating exclusively on turf runways. It would give me heebie jeebies if on hard surface runways. I've flown tricylcle gear airplanes with castering nose wheels. On takeoff in cross winds, there's the awkward period of pecking a...

KenBickers

That's unfortunate. What doesn't work is useful information. Thanks for sharing. Please keep doing so.

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

John, That's terrific. You can actually use the bolt-push method by slipping the previous drill bit in backwards on the opposite side of the hole. The next size up will push that one out. You can then swap in the bit you just used to enlarge the hole by slipping it in backwards on the opposite side ...

KenBickers

John, Oscar is correct the gear lugs line up and fit nicely on mine. I didn't build it, so cannot offer any specific solutions. One thought that I have is that the issue maybe less the bits and more about the technique. Here's what I've done in other application: put a bolt in from the oppositie sid...

KenBickers

I'm thinking one of those freezer bag vacuum sealers that they sell late at night on cable tv might work. One pickle ball, one freezer bag, zzzz, sealed, done, next. It should keep the air inside fresh forever, freezer proof, too.

KenBickers

Ahoy Alex, Belly pod inflatable sounds like a post holiday meal condition. But I like your way of thinking. The challenge (let's assume there's only one, really let's) might be to keep the Piet from being too tippy laterally. It might need deployable floation outriggers. I'm thinking an alternative ...

KenBickers

Oscar, I'm liking the idea of helium bladders, especially to gain better climb and glide range. I'm worried, though, that material tough enough to deal with potential abrasion and sharp edges inside the wing might undue some of the benefits of helium. Perhaps we should think about hydrogen. Much lig...

KenBickers

Oscar, It's great to get an engineer with an abacus on this important question. I'm wondering if there should be a mix of different size balls to add bouyancy where otherwise water would be. I've tentatively ruled out pickleballs for this, though perhaps there's a good way to plug the little holes i...

KenBickers

Okay, folks, it's been way too long since the BPA website was returned to functionality for an interesting building discussion. So here's an oldie but a goodie (and if you remember this, you're exposing just how old you've become). Here's what I'm wondering (hehehe): How many ping pong balls should ...

KenBickers

You won't go wrong following the plans. Here's the mental test I used whenever I was considering a change to the plans or, more often, considering the use of a part that I had made that I knew was less than ideal. I would imagine what would be going through my mind while being jostled by afternoon c...

KenBickers

Looks good, Oscar. Soon it will be time to go out and give the new cover a test. Here, we have finally had some days above freezing for the first time in the new year. Today was in the 40s. Still a bit too frosty for me to venture out in an open cockpit, even with the front pit covered. Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

My understanding, which may be flawed, is that the purpose of the bracing is to keep the ribs from distorting left or right during the fabric shrinkage phase of the covering process. Since heat can't be applied across the whole wing simultaneously, there needs to be a way to keep things stable as th...

KenBickers

Jeffrey,

Here's a picture of what I did. I followed the guidance of the person teaching the EAA SportAir fabric covering course at Flabob airport in fall of 2011. If I recall, this is what is recommended in 43.13.

Cheers, Ken

KenBickers

John, I laid mine out with the struts 1" deep across the longerons, such that there would be gussets on both sides of the struts at the intersections with the longerons. The strength is in the gussets. Hopefully this picture conveys what I did. Cheers, Ken

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