Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Just a few pictures of my fuselage so far...

Very cool!
What made you go with the steel? I was on the fence for a while but decided in my case wood would be cheaper and faster.

danoliver wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2019 10:31 am Very cool!
What made you go with the steel? I was on the fence for a while but decided in my case wood would be cheaper and faster.

The main reason I went with the steel fuselage is that I'm a welding engineer so metal fabrication is a bit more in my wheelhouse. The general consensus seems to be that steel fuselages are 10 to 20 lbs lighter. If you crash you're better off in a steel frame since it will bend and absorb energy whereas wood tends to snap. Steel fuselages are also more repairable.

Cost wise wood is better, I spent about $1400 on tubes and plates and the wood kit from aircraftspruce is $1100. Then you also have to consider that the tools required to build the steel tube frame are a lot more expensive.

I'm not sure if it takes more hours to build the steel version. It's easier in some ways because steel is pretty forgiving. Basically you tack weld everything in place and if you want to make adjustments it's easy. With wood you can dry fit to a certain extent but once it's glued there is no going back. The wood plans are much more complete though, I have quite a few hours into figuring out things that are clearly shown on the wood plans. But then again a lot of the fun of this project is incorporating my own ideas into it. Also lead time on 4130 tubing and plate is a couple days whereas the wood kit from aircraftspruce is a couple months. Also doing glue up during a Montana winter is not really an option for me so I think I would have made less progress if I was doing wood.

Just my $0.02 on a question that has been discussed pretty thoroughly in the past.

ArthurD; very interesting to see that you're using a rudder bar in front and pedals in back. Do you intend to link them together using cables, or using rods/tubes?

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Air Camper NX41CC, A75 power

Thanks for posting the pictures. I've been brainstorming on a tube fuselage Piet for a while now and it's nice to see pictures of someone else's solutions to the various things I've been wondering about.

taildrags wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2019 5:18 pm ArthurD; very interesting to see that you're using a rudder bar in front and pedals in back. Do you intend to link them together using cables, or using rods/tubes?

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Air Camper NX41CC, A75 power

I was planning on using cable but I think rods would also work. I suppose rods would eliminate the need for a bell crank in the rear.

What I like about rigidly linking the front and back controls is that it helps keep the rudder horn from getting loaded too heavily if the pilot presses with both feet at the same time. I've found myself in many a demanding landing when on rollout I noticed that my legs were very tense on the rudder bar. The bar takes up that strain, no problem, but with individual pedals it's possible for the pilot to load the rudder horn quite a bit

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Air Camper NX41CC, A75 power