Brodhead Pietenpol Association

taildrags

Looks like you're going about it the right way, which is "do it right the first time and you won't have to do it again". Steady as she goes!

-Oscar Zuniga
Medford,OR

taildrags

The workmanship on that plane looks impeccable, Dan. Talk about a perfect fit of the cowling aluminum around the cabane tube!

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

NX41CC, same thing. Screwed directly to the longerons using PK screws.

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

Richard; you became a celebrity the day you acquired three four kilo papa and began your Pietenpol journey. But hey, there's nothing wrong with a little bit of publicity. Back when Mr. Pietenpol first flew his Air Camper, television was just becoming commercially viable, so your radio interview this...

taildrags

I am certainly not in it for the money. I'm in it for Pietenpol builders! However, I must say that people who supply the hinges in finished form do a beautiful job with the hinges that they sell. I also offer the oval Air Camper data plates that Brian Amato used to offer in aluminum (and may still o...

taildrags

It depends on what you're looking for. One source out there can provide you with complete, finished, nicely executed pairs of hinges and for a Piet, you'll need 9 pairs (3 pairs on each elevator and 3 pairs on the rudder). If you're willing to work with as-cast blanks and perform the hand operations...

taildrags

I think it's quite common in open-cockpit airplanes to just read static pressure at the back of the instrument rather than running a tube from an actual static port on the exterior skin, but I'll let others chime in.

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

Some very interesting and useful ideas here. I'm not a Model A engine guy but the ideas are useful nevertheless.

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

Nice progress-!

-Oscar

taildrags

I see that little wedge shim filler at the bottom

Nice work.

-Oscar

taildrags

Richard; the area that I had some problems with over the years that I flew N41CC was the front seat's front face vertical support plywood. On more than one occasion it got kicked by the pilot hard enough to break the plywood free (not by me though). I finally ended up tearing out the entire assembly...

taildrags

Wish I could remember the young fellow's name, but in any case you can go to the search box in the upper RH corner of this forum page and enter 'ferrule' or 'tail brace wire' or some such thing and you should be able to find a useful link or two.

-Oscar

taildrags

There are some websites and videos that provide exactly that: step-by-step methodology for making those beautiful wrapped and folded wire ferrules and ends. There was a young builder in this group who is exceptionally talented at making those but I've forgotten his name.
-Oscar

taildrags

Where in SoCal? Scott Liefeld is somewhere over in the Lancaster area, by Palmdale.

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

Doc: still got these plans for sale?

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

14 CFR 91.205 covers day VFR flight for U.S. aircraft with standard category airworthiness certification and all it says is that an airspeed indicator is required, period. So if it's good enough for standard category, it should certainly be good enough for experimentals. I suppose you could use a kn...

taildrags

Just for the heck of it and for studying where things are relative to one another with the plane in the straight and level position, I've attached a plot of a CAD layout that I did of a conventional Air Camper pretty much by the plans (no brakes; Ford A engine mount; vertical cabanes)- except that I...

taildrags

I'll bet that fuselage frame is stiffening up nicely, what with the blocking and crosspieces and gussets getting installed. One of the most comforting things about a Piet is the robustness of its basic structural 'cage'.

-Oscar

taildrags

It's a wonder that the entire world isn't held rigidly in place with gussets. Got to have them!

-Oscar

taildrags

They don't call it "working time" for nothing. Spread and smooth on all glue areas for all you're worth... you can feel it starting to get a little tacky... get it into place... lift and shift, align and clamp, unloosen and readjust... hurry! Hurry!. Then it's past the point of no return a...

taildrags

Well come on, Richard... floor it!

-Oscar

taildrags

...and who doesn't love a nice piece of wood? Especially if it has an airplane part inside it!

-Oscar

taildrags

Now there's a forward-thinking man...

-Oscar

taildrags

"Do or not do. There is no try." -Yoda

taildrags

Wish I lived closer to you. I have the plywood that you'd need without having to scarf it. I have the plywood for the sides, too. Leftovers from the Piet project that Corky started but never finished.

-Oscar

taildrags

And yet another example of how the simple things are often the most elegant. Very nice detail.

-Oscar

taildrags

The cabane struts on 41CC are the length shown on the plans but since they are slanted aft to adjust the CG, the wing is brought closer to the pilot's head and blocks access to the cockpit just a little more than if they were installed vertically. The plane has a centersection "flop panel"...

taildrags

I think the ones on 41CC were extended a bit but I'll check. They are definitely tilted aft to improve the CG situation.

-Oscar

taildrags

I check daily to see what the latest work is looking like.

-Oscar

taildrags

Yes, I was going to ask, "Would you like gussets with that framing sir?"

-Oscar

taildrags

Richard: even the pyramids were built one stone at a time, and so it is with building an Air Camper. You can't rush this stuff and if you do it right the first time, you'll only have to do it once

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

Chuck, there are several locations where turnbuckles are (or can be) used in the plane and although most of them are for 3/32" cable, some builders use 1/16" for the tail braces (for example), so there is that.

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

Wish I had thought of that nifty scarfing jig. It's nice when you have the working room for nice jigs and clamps and planes and spokeshaves to work with! It seems like anytime I need to make repairs to something, I have to work with small tools and work by eyeball in very tight spaces.

-Oscar

taildrags

Yesssss-!!! Glad it's back!

-Oscar

taildrags

That's gotta be a great feeling, Richard. I know it was a great feeling for me every time I completed a subassembly back when I was making repairs to my Air Camper. Patience and determination will eventually win the day.

-Oscar

taildrags

Looks like an airplane, from nose to tail.

-Oscar

taildrags

Maybe the turtleback ribs-? I don't see where they're called out on the plans but they seem to be about 1/4x1"

-Oscar

taildrags

Hmmm... the aileron horn detail just says #8 holes, doesn't say the spacing of them along the 2-7/8" long flats. Why not just drill new pairs of holes closer together on the strap so they land on the wood with adequate edge clearance?

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

taildrags

Richard; do you plan to refit the tailspring and other fittings that require holes back there before varnishing the wood?

-Oscar

taildrags

My thoughts are that I would stick with 1" thick spars. Stress-wise and for the same spar depth and wood species, a solid rectangular 1" thick spar can take 33% higher bending stress than a 3/4" spar so if you drop down from a solid 1" spar to a solid 3/4" spar, you've lost ...

taildrags

Tailpost will be in place in a jiffy.

-Oscar

taildrags

Well, if you now have the full-size rib plan, the first thing you can do is compare the overall look and layout to readily-available rib layout plans like the one that's in the 1929 Flying & Glider Manual. Since the wing spars are what they are and they're spaced where they have to be on the air...

taildrags

Oh. I have some of that same drywall sanding screen but never thought of using it when an exceptionally rough type of abrasion is just the ticket. Great idea... thanks!

-Oscar

taildrags

Seeing no other attaboy posted here yet, I'll raise my voice with one. Nice work, Richard! And with the simplest of tools, too. Carry on...

-Oscar

taildrags

Just a comment: it appears to have a different airfoil than the Pietenpol, but since the wings aren't built yet, that's really not a factor.

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Air Camper NX41CC, A75 power

taildrags

Excellent! A new Air Camper joins the fleet! Congratulations!

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Air Camper NX41CC, A75 power

taildrags

"The repair area". I like that ;o)

-Oscar

taildrags

What a patient and loving endeavor, Richard. The Pietenpol community will owe you a lot for preserving this piece of Air Camper history alive and flying. What an excellent fellow you are for doing this for Ken, for the Pietenpol family, for the aviation community as a whole. You could have just chuc...

taildrags

Please! Oh, please let us keep this site going! I go to that sandbox to play every week; sometimes every day!

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Air Camper NX41CC, A75 power

taildrags

I see you've got the patient under sedation on the operating table now, Richard. The cuts will be painful to make, but the broken bones and dead skin have to be cut away before new stuff can be grafted in. My Piet's damage wasn't as extensive as yours, but it was every bit as painful for me to cut, ...

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