Tagged With: aircraft
What is a cleco?
I use the word cleco a lot, usually in the context of “wow look at all those clecoes!” or “such and such cleco”. A cleco is a temporary sheet metal fastener. It has a small strong spring inside that, when compressed, will cause the tip of the cleco to simultaneously elongate in length and shrink … Continue reading
Aft Fuselage #5 (Turtledeck cleco)
Total build time: 166 Hours. The aft fuselage tail cone box is complete, but with skins on the left, right, and bottom, it now needs a top! The top is called the turtledeck, as it resembles a curved turtle shell covering (I presume.) Parts layout: This next bit was to bend the turtledeck into place … Continue reading
Aft Fuselage #4 (Tail cone box)
Total build time: 150 hours. Slowly but surely the entirety of the tail cone box is up-drilled and progressively stripped back apart. As I back out the parts I have to think carefully about how it will ultimately be riveted together… going in the wrong order will seal me off from areas that I may … Continue reading
Aft Fuselage #3 (Tail cone box cleco)
Total build time: 112 hours First, cut a large hole for an access panel in the floor of the aft fuselage. Its funny how much pride one can take from making a pretty hole in aluminum sheet metal. Time to make use of those hundreds of clecoes I invested in… up goes the aft fuselage … Continue reading
Aft Fuselage #2 (Mixer mount and tail post)
Total build time: 106 Hours With the side panels complete, it’s back to fabricating more small assemblies before the next big assembly. The mixer mount is a fixture on the floor of the aft fuselage that will hold the mixer that combines pitch and yaw inputs from the pilot into the ruddervators. The tail … Continue reading
Aft Fuselage #1 (Side Panels)
Total build time: 80 hours. Began work on the aft fuselage. As with any new part of the build, it begins with laying out and making modifications to each individual part. Here are the parts laid out, and some cuts/holes that needed to be made in the side skins. Then out come the clecoes … Continue reading
Empennage #4 (Stabilator Skins)
Total build time: 65 hours. With the stabilator substructures complete, it’s time to move on to the skins. Say it with me… cleco, updrill, disassemble, deburr, cleco, rivet! It’s my new mantra. And in this case, add in the extra step of polishing the skin for a few passes prior to riveting. Fiberglass … Continue reading
Workshop improvements.
While Mom and Bill were in town for Thanksgiving, they helped me a ton by making improvements to my workshop, including some much needed lighting. Lighting: Before and After: Also installed was a toilet and a shop sink. Both are much appreciated and used often!
Empennage #3 (First Rivets!)
Total build time: 34 hours. Finally, after having deburred the parts and reassembled them using clecoes, I’m ready to start riveting! This is my very first rivet. And the rest… It’s funny how the parts tend to look flashier when they have clecoes in them, but for me seeing the part finished … Continue reading
Empenage #2 (Stabilators)
Total build time: 31 hours. After verifying fitment and shape of the stabilators, I began the up-drilling process. First up is the hockey sticks to the front spar. The silver clecoes are in pilot holes (3/32″), and the copper clecoes are in the up-drilled holes (1/8″.) Then comes the deburring process. I’m pretty sure … Continue reading
Empennage #1
Total build time: 16 hours. Empennage I decided to build the rear stabilators first. I gathered and laid out some of the necessary parts, cut and finished some angle components from aluminum extrusion. I then made the necessary bends in the “hockey sticks”, which are the strengtheners and attach points for the front spars … Continue reading
Unpacking.
Here are some pictures of what was inside some of the boxes: The motor mount and various other welded components. 10,000 pop rivets. 100 pages of 2ft x 4ft cad drawing blueprints, aluminum angle and channel material, and much more. Here is a picture from the Sonex website illustrating what … Continue reading
My Workshop
My home has a large, full-sized unfinished basement. The central room of this basement will be my workshop, and I can use adjacent rooms for storage. There is walkout doorway to my back yard that currently has a swinging door and a glass door panel. This doorway will eventually be converted into a french door … Continue reading
Delivery
Waiex #197 was delivered to my home on November 18th, 2013. Yes, that’s right, I was so excited that I was standing in my yard with my camera ready waiting for the delivery truck to come rolling down my street. The entire airframe kit was loaded in a truck on a 4×10 foot … Continue reading