N34KP's rebuild

[Richard Roller]

Back from visiting my sisters and mother. I planed the doublers on the lower right longeron this morning. Time to glue up the lower left.

[Richard Roller]

Glued up the lower left longeron doublers today.

[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.

[Richard Roller]

The rear splices are complete. Station piece and pulling them together at the tail post next.

[taildrags]

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

-Oscar

[Richard Roller]

Oscar. Yes I do plan on drilling before refinishing. I still have a drill guide, made out of 1" key stock, that I made for the longeron repair from 5 years ago.

[Richard Roller]

Station piece, diagonal and doublers. Late night glue up.

[Richard Roller]

I glued in the old tailpost last night. Gussets next.

[Richard Roller]

[taildrags]

Looks like an airplane, from nose to tail.

-Oscar

[Chuck in Indiana]

Good as new..

[Richard Roller]

[Richard Roller]

The tail reconstruction is finished except for fairing strips and holes for the fittings.

[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

[Richard Roller]

The holes for the forward tailwheel brackets are drilled.

[Richard Roller]

Since I moved the upper seat back aft 3-1/2" I was able to reuse the diagonal brace behind the seat back by re-cutting to the new angles. I still need to install the forward gusset.

[Chuck in Indiana]

One piece at a time.. attaboy!

[Richard Roller]

Well crap...., while marking up the longerons for cuts for the splices, I found a crack in the lower left one, right where I wanted to do the splice. Always something. Time for another inspection for additional damage I might have missed and to re-evaluate the splice location on the lower left longeron.

[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

[Richard Roller]

The first two splices cut.

[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

[Chuck in Indiana]

What did you use to get rid of the biggest part of the scarf?

[Richard Roller]

On my first try, back on one of the tail longerons, I tried a saws all and chisels. It was practically uncontrollable. Vibration and catching the wood it jumped all over the place.

Now I use a small draw knife I bought at Rocklers. It takes 3 to 5 minutes to cut down to just shy of the guide, then I finish with a block plane.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Alrighty, now! Thanks for that..

[Richard Roller]

All four fuselage forward longerons scarphed. Now to do the repair pieces.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Inquiring minds want to know.. did you just run the plane down the steel jig?

[Richard Roller]

After cutting close with the draw knife, yes.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thanks again..

[Richard Roller]

The four pieces for the front of the fuselage are ready to be glued on.

[Richard Roller]

The bottom longerons are gluing.

[Richard Roller]

The two upper longerons are gluing.

[Richard Roller]

It's been a while since I could work on the Piet. Yesterday I glued in one piece of the left rear cabane station.

[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

[Richard Roller]

Opposite side gluing

[Richard Roller]

Gluing in diagonals.

[Richard Roller]

[Richard Roller]

Bending a longeron. It dropped 2-1/8" at the end overnight. 6 lbs of weight hanging on the end.

[Richard Roller]

[Richard Roller]

Up to the firewall on the left side.

[Richard Roller]

The side trusses are done. Time for inside gussets and station cross pieces.

[taildrags]

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

-Oscar

[Richard Roller]

I hadn't worked on the Piet since the third week of June, due to my wife's memorial and my general lack of desire to do anything. But today I started cutting inside gussets. The one shown, inside lower right, has a long one. The gussets for the longeron splice and the station came so close together I decided to combine then. It'll be the same way on the opposite lower longeron.

[Richard Roller]

After the clamps and final shaping.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thanks for the pix! I know sometimes you don't think anyone cares when you don't get any response. This stuff is valuable info.

[taildrags]

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

-Oscar

[Richard Roller]

Left lower longeron splice and station.

[Richard Roller]

Lots of family crap going on, getting in the way of Piet rebuild time
I have managed to get some of the blocking for the landing gear/lift strut fittings started.

[Richard Roller]

[Richard Roller]

I was out at the hanger taking some measurements on the wing. I found something interesting. When Ken built the wing, he did the compression struts in the middle of the wing different. Instead of offsetting the struts with the 1/4" plywood to clear the bottom of the wing fabric, he cut a curve, like the lower center section pieces, flipped the cut out piece over and glued it to the top of the strut.

[taildrags]

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

-Oscar