The Turbo has landed!!!! And some other parts too...........

It was just one of those things that I just wasn't prepared to fully appreciate until it arrived.  Upon opening the box it seemed like Christmas again! The courier driver graciously left the seven thousand dollars or so of aircraft parts just sitting on my front verandah over Christmas, while I was 450 kms away in Perth. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to see it there when I got home today. The fact that it was all still there and untouched, made my day.

I have had a brief look at all the components and tomorrow I will need to check all the items of the manifest. I have noted straight away that the two brand new heads are not in the package and have been listed as 'back ordered'. I have no idea what's going to happen there regarding freight but I am surprised Sonex didn't mention that it was shipping incomplete. Waiting for the heads to arrive and sending it complete would have seemed like a more sensible option. If I was given a choice I would have just waited as I still have soooooo much more building to do before I'm ready to hang the motor. However  it's nice to see that turbo sitting pretty in my lounge room.

I have lost count with how many turbos I have fitted and replaced in my 20+ years as an automotive car mechanic. It wasn't until tonight that I picked up the bare unit and appreciated how heavy they really are. When using them on cars little thought is given to the weight in my dealings with them but as the brain was switched into aircraft mode the automatic scales on the end of my arm kicked in. Now tell me, who when building a plane before hasn't sat there with something in their hand , be it a bolt,fuel filter, bracket, starter motor and just thought about the weight? I think it's an automatic built in feature of a aircraft builder to question every parts that goes into the plane and think "can I make this lighter?" or " does this really need to go on?" or the big one "how much will this affect my climb rate?"

Anyway,,, I did these calculations all tonight in my head, in probably what was all of three milliseconds, and summed up the requirements as " oh hell yeah, I need those extra horses".
It would be like going into a motorbike shop and asking for a power restriction kit to be added. Same thing, buying a sport plane but without the sport motor????. For me it was a no brainer, I had to have it.


Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and the new year brings a few more dreams to reality  ;)

So,,,, yep,,  huh,huh, um, yep, go order that Sonex kit, you'll love it :)

Stalled just for a bit.....

It's been a few weeks, unfortunately, since I have been able to do any work on the Sonex. I have had to do a few things with the Aeropup regarding the cooling baffles and so on. It's also come to that time of year again when it pretty much blows 20 kts constantly and is usually over 30-35 degrees, so flying hasn't really been pleasant.  Being close to Christmas as well , time just seems to be slipping by a little too quickly.

I have found the probable cause of an issue that has been a long time gripe I've had with the Pup, which is a positive find. I have always felt the engine vibrates quite significantly. Since comparing the factory Sonex Aerovee engine mount with my current mount, I have found the engine mount rubbers are far too compressed on my engine. The pins that the rubbers sit on need to be extended. I have contacted the Sonex help via email about possible fixes I could do and await their response.  I expect they must be seriously busy over Christmas so am not surprised that its been over two weeks now with no response.  It's not like I don't have plenty of other work to do regarding building the Sonex!

I would like to try to finish the paintwork on the fuselage. When Christmas is over I will have to try to do early morning, or late afternoon coats.  The middle of the day is just far too hot and the paint would almost dry as it leaves the gun.

SO....... what I have done on the Sonex since the last installment is a short list:

-  I have removed the lower floor on the Sonex in preparation to install the elevator push rod and             rudder cables.
- The dual control sticks were bolted in.
- the holes drilled for the elevator attachment.


Here's hoping to a productive new year... maybe even to see it fly in 2015 :)

Let there be White

Well the 3 weeks of working on the plane was a big leap in progress. I feel quite happy about what I managed to get done in that time. I have read so much about the paint vs polish debate I was unsure about where I was heading decision wise. I think what really changed my mind was one day I was working in the shed in the late afternoon on the elevator assy and the light was shining on it. It was not a polished piece or anything but the reflection off the sun was almost blinding. I had read some forum somewhere about a Sonex owner deciding to paint his plane after being sick of being blinded by the reflection from the wings. So the decision was made. I think however that I still may have polished it if I was running the standard Aerovee , however, since I have decided to add the turbo to the engine, I don't mind sacrificing a little payload with some paint.








Soooooo the next big question was what to use and what colour scheme to go with. Not being much of an original thinker I was looking all over the net and found one that just jumped out at me from the moment I saw it. I saw the plane in an article from the 'Contact' magazine and it's quite a tragic tale, but I won't go into it here.. I hope the owner of this plane doesn't mind me plagiarizing his colour scheme.

Realizing painting the plane would be a heck of a lot easier before the motor was fitted, I have started on the job. It's been a few years since handling a spray gun, but it seems to be going on quite well. The elevator and tail tips were the first to be painted. I had to go back to the paint shop to add a little more red tint as at first it was a little too orange for my liking. After the extra tint was added it came out spot on.

 

The main fuselage was next. The base coat of white is finished now, however, I don't have a photo. It did come out quite well. Time will tell if I have done a good job. I have sprayed it in automotive 2 pack paint hence all the protective clothing and breathing apparatus including goggles.

It just wouldn't be cricket I guess, if I didn't just throw some random photo in from the last three weeks. I had a great little fly out to a place called Morawa in W.A. There is a local gliding club out there and I managed to get talking to the local CFI and the topic of the VW came up. So I had to see how his baffling and cooling ducts were arranged in the hope that I could solve the ongoing issue of overheating in my Aerovee. He has given me a few ideas and I hope to try them next week when I get home. 



Until next time .......... Stay Cool. :)  

Thick and fast ,,,sort of...... Pictorial Edition

Well it took the best part of a day for this but I am happy still nonetheless. I started on the rudder thinking I'd have it done by smoko or lunch, but ,yes,it took all day.

It basically started here..... then went to 

Here...... to start de-burring all those holes......

Then finally went to ..... 

Here,then topped the day off by being in 

Here!... With my pink floaty and Beer. 

Smashing the work out!!!!!!

Well I haven't actually been 'smashing' anything, but a saying we have in my industry or trade when things go well, or you get heaps done, is called just that "smashing it out". This week has been one of those times when everything has just been falling together without a hitch or mistake. After having gotten over the lowered seat option, I knuckled down and got back into it. Up to now I have been putting off finishing the elevator due to the fact that I wasn't sure how to get it all straight and lining up without a hitch. I had a few issues with the last plane I built, with a few things like this, and I was determined not to make the same mistakes.   I needed a large enough flat surface and I didn't have this in the shed so along came the kitchen bench-top :)

Served absolutely perfect for the job and the wife even helped me most of the day without complaint (sort of) and the end result came out perfect. 

I managed to do a little shed flying the day before as well. Seeing as the seat was installed I thought I would see if there was enough clearance for us both. I temp fitted the seat cushions supplied by Sonex and tried it on. I have to say I am a bit worried about clearance as I only really had an inch or so between my head and the canopy and with a hat and Zulu 2 headset things might get tight. I was sitting forward a bit and perhaps that may not have been helping. I expect when I'm flying I'l be more than likely leaning back and relaxing so maybe all will be good. Pity help the taller passengers I take. 

I can always do the lowered seat mod later though if I need to I guess.

I was absolutely pumped by how the horizontal tail tips fitted at the end of the day. I was such a nice fit around the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer. I obviously won't be riveting it on until I paint the tail feathers but it is all drilled and ready to go. Both elevators line well with the tips ,so Happy Days.  Time to fit the Stabilizer to the plane I guess :)    

A WEEK OFF

So here I am with a full week off, and seeing as I work one week on, one week off, that means three weeks off!  Oh yeah! I basically squandered the first week with travelling to Perth for family stuff but now I'm back and ready for BIZ. The last two days have seen a great leap forward in my mind. I am starting to really get the hang of these plans and reading them. I am still having issues with hardware as I go along but I have been lucky so far regarding the fact that I have had quite a few spares from the last plane build.

I made up the brackets for the hydraulic brake master cylinder. As I stuffed one up, I got the pleasure of making two on one side of it, but it was all good. 

The fuel tank is now sitting in position. I have screwed in all the bungs and fuel level probe and only have the breather to decide upon. I would like to use the piece of ali tube going straight up to allow more fuel to be added to the tank, but am very worried about fuel spillage onto the windscreen if I ever find myself in the negative G situation. Plus it looks a little unprofessional.  I will have to read up on it more before I decide, but I expect I will just go with the normal fuel vent to the bottom install. 

I have no idea how people manage to get the AN3-10 bolt into the center join of the tank straps. I went and bought 5mm threaded rod cut them to 3" long and joined them then wound them in tight. I am hoping, once the straps have been in there for a while, I can hold them together with some clamps of some sort and replace the threaded bar with the correct hardware. I have plenty of time to change that later. 

I had another one of those 'Walter Mitty' moments where I seemed to be staring at the plane for ages, moving onto the plans, staring at the plane again, and so on. When ordering the quick build I asked for the lowered seat option. I have since found out that I have been sent the standard seat arrangement.  This took me a long time to work out by reading the plans and working out the differences. As I look back on it now it is very easy to tell in hind site. As it stands now I am not too concerned as both myself and wife are quite short in general. I can see what needs to be done to change the seating but I will leave it for now and worry if it becomes a problem in the future. 

So I've 'gone for broke' and charged forward with the normal arrangement. Who knows, Maybe it will be really good and I'll be able to see over the dash while taxying :)  I hope so. 

The lower hinge, I ended up riveting on before the day was out, and tomorrow I plan on fitting the other two hinges at the bottom and the top.  I have realized I have not made a cut away for the hinge pins at these two areas so will also do that in the morning. 

I don't have a picture but I also riveted on the wing spar carry through box and the associated brackets today. I think most of the rivets have been left out as the option of the tri landing gear brackets would need to go there if they were required. As I'm running the standard gear I riveted it all up.  I am really hoping I haven't made an oversight, and missed something.  Again, I sat for ages looking at the plans before I decided on this bold move. I don't fancy having to drill out over 100-200 or so rivets if I have made a mistake.

So what will tomorrow bring?

Another week in review

Well saying a week in review is quite an exaggeration. I have worked on the plane for one day this fortnight. However,,,, today was a productive day.

Basically it is now on it's wheels and I can reach everything. I have started on fitting the hydraulic brakes, the flap torque tube and the fuel tank and so on. I fitted the rudder cable attach brackets today and hooked the springs up.  It was definitely nice to see it on it's wheels and I think I may start to make some real progress now. 

I was a little perplexed about the hydraulic brake fitment today. I was looking at the plans and was trying to work out where I had gone wrong.

The backing plate was essentially pointing towards the ground and when I was looking at the plans it looked as if it was supposed to be level according to the fuselage. I was also looking at the brake plans and noticed the wheel spat seemed to back this opinion up. So after staring at the thing for a LONG time trying to work out what was happening I looked on the Sonex builders site and found out everyone else had this same problem. I just couldn't get over, for a while, why Sonex would release this brake option and it not be according to plans. I kept thinking I had done something wrong. Upon looking at it, really, it makes no difference to the way it all works, but why not have it exactly as the plans state? Anyway rant over... Besides this:

Errr,, I ordered the clevis pins straight from the plans and this is how they turned out. About 6mm too long. I could normally deal with this so easily, just putting it down to aviation, however while I was in Perth I had to drive for over an hour each way to get to the Aircraft shop to buy these.  And that was after waiting two weeks for them to be ordered  in.  It was pretty disappointing to then find they were incorrect. I know I can order new ones, or space them out, or leave them as is, because the wheel bearing dust seal will stop them walking into the brake disk. It's just that I really wanted them to fit.

Rant now definitely over.