Chapter 13 - Nose and nose gear - Part 3

Last week I spent quite too much time fabricating the NG3 and NG4 brackets. These brackets attach the NG9 pushrod (in this case the spring loaded linkage) to the fiberglass nose gear strut.

These were cut from a sheet of .062 4130N steel. I used a crappy cheap Harbour Frieght bending brake to bend the steel which was probably just too thick for the break to handle. Nevertheless it all worked.

The holes in the larger NG3 bracket are small pilot holes. The smaller NG4 bracket will be drilled out after bonding to the fiberglass strut to ensure perfect allignment.

Chapter 13 - Nose and nose gear - Part 2

This post is mainly for eye candy. I recently recieved my new 4" nose wheel from the Cozy Girrrls. My past part orders from the Girrrls arrived so quickly they were akin to the Coyote reciving his Acme stuff seconds after posting his mail in order. However this time the USPS took a little extra time. That coupled with the disappearance of the check I mailed them led me to become a little concerned about mail delivery in my neiborhood. Of course the same day I file a complaint at the post office, the wheel arrived leaving me feeling somewhat embarrased... Enough with all that. The wheel is beutifull....

I Also I took the time to mount smaller shin tires on the main wheels. It turns out that the 5.00x5 tires I had were not the recomended tires and would have required extra large draggy wheel pants.

Chapter 13 - Nose and nose gear - Part 1

Back on the last day of January I took some time to shape depressions on the exterior sides of the NG-30 plates. I had already cut the high density foam and glassed 4 plies of bid glass on the inner sides.

These NG-30 plates make up the sides of a box that will contain the worm drive retract mechinism and the NG-6 bearing block.



Here you can see the 15 plies of BID fiberglass hardpionts where the worm drive mechenism and the NG-6 bearing will be mounted.


Finally 4 plies bid cover the entire ouside sides of the NG-30 plates. This photo is actually taken after I added one additional ply. The plans called for each of the hard points to be weighted down during cure and the results were not very pleasing to me. I did some repair work that damaged the top layer of glass and so I added one additional layer to the affected areas. I was about ready to completely trash the two NG-30s, however I feel the final result is acceptable.


Today and yesterday I spent some time fabricating some parts. Yesterday was spent cutting bending and welding the NG-64 crank. I am not very practiced at welding, and the equipment I used was far from ideal. However the weld is strong and with a little craftmanship I ended up with a good result.

Also pictured are the two NG-8 disks that I fabricated today. The discs were quite easy to make. I simply used a 2" hole saw fitted into my drill press. Then drilled out the 3/16" holes and counter sunk them. Then treated with alodine. The 1/4" hole saw pilot hole was also drilled out to the final 5/16" size.


Here the NG-8 disks are mounted into the forward portion of the NG-30 plates.



Here is the whole assembly trial fitted. In this photo the mechanism is in the retracted possition. The spring loaded linkage will be attached to the nose gear strut. The 5/16" bolt will secure the bearing attached to the top of the strut.


Here is the mechanism in the grear down possition.


From the pilots view...

Chapter 13 - Canard installation

Over the last couple of weeks I have been slowly working on fitting the canard to the fuselage. This involved ensuring the fuse longerons were level in both axes, that the canard was level and strait, and at the correct incidence.

Then the canard was clamped to the fuse at the aluminum lift tabs and the two high density foam canard attach tabs were glassed in place.


Here you can see the canard clamped to the fuse. If you look at the left side (closer) clamp you can see a peice of scrap aluminum used as a shim to ensure the canard has no sweep. Later I laid up about 7 plies of bid to that location to keep the canard in the correct position after final assembly. Also visible is the template used to ensure the canard is at zero incidence.

Like the plans state.... "this step may crowd your shop slightly"


I made an attempt to shape the elevator fairings. This was turning out quite nice, however it started to get damaged because I needed to remove the canard many times while ensuring it fit properly. It should not be difficult to shape the final fairings once the canard is finally ready.

Chapter 10 - Complete!

Finally I have completed chapter 10!. Most of the latest work was actually completed last month. I have just been awaiting some miscellaneous hardware from ACS to complete installation of the elevators.

The canard and elevators are not quite complete. I will wait until after the canard is installed and the inboard elevators have been trimmed to fit before I install the counter weights and ensure the elevators are balanced properly.

Here is the completed canard


Here are some shots of the swoopy tips being formed

Chapter 10 - Canard construction - Part 9

Good progress the last few days. I received some parts from the Cozy Rirrrls a few days ago. Included in the order were the NC-3 and NC-3a hinge plate assemblies, hinge pins and other canard hardware. I had made these parts myself, however after test fitting them I was not happy with my workmanship, they probably would have worked fine, however I feel that control systems are not something to take a chance on. I decided to play it safe and order some parts from the girrrls. I am glad I did. They shipped the parts right away and the workmanship on everyting including packaging was wonderfull. Thanks Crissi, thanks Randi!.

Pictured here are the elevators mounted to the canard via four plywood jigs. The jigs secure the elevators in place while the hinge plates are floxed in place.


After the flox bonding the hinge plates cured I used the pictured template to verify the elevator travel. Full forward stick should bring the elevator to 15 degrees up. Unfortunately the elevators were only moving up to the 10 degree position.


The plans suggest that one sand away some trailing edge of the canard to fix this situation. After sanding away a little less than 1/8' from the trailing edge the elevators could be positioned to the full 15 degree forward deflection.



Here the elevator is showin in the full back position of 30 degrees down elevator. Also shown is the duct tape I used to protect the elevator while I sanded the training edge. the sanding block, and the strait edge to ensure the trailing edge was strait while I sanded away.



If you look closely you can see two of the elevator jigs reinstalled (with Bondo) to the mid underside of the canard to hold the elevators at 0 degrees deflection. This is used to align a curve to the canard tips (blue foam blocks pictured).

Chapter 13 - Nose Gear - Part 1

Time for a little diversion....

I am in need of some parts to complete the eleveator installation on the canard, so I have turned my attention toward the nose gear.

I purchased this used worm drive nose gear retract assembly and I spent yesterday evening cleaning it up and panting it. You can see the previous owner had many lightening holes drilled into the aluminum assembly side plates and the round gear as well.