It's So Old!
But it still smells fresh.
WEF 1001281601
With all this old stuff sticking around, you have to wonder how we keep it
smelling so fresh. Ha! I've got quite the secret up my sleeve.
You see, my wonderful wife makes candles. Not just any candles, but
soy candles. Highly scented, and at a price anybody can afford.
Even me.
So, cruise on over to Skyline Candle
Company, and pick yourself up a candle or twelve. I recommend the
Waterfall Mist. Smells so good. Way better than all these moldy
old headlines.
FMI: Skyline Candle Co.
Taildraggers, Inc. Archives - July 2010
These are our top stories and links from July of 2010. They're still cool,
but we gotta keep the home page clean and quick to load! Enjoy the
Archives!
And as always, if you have a link or photo to share, we'd love to
hear about it, and hopefully add it to the site. We are also looking
for guest writers and photographers to submit content. If you would
like to write an article or a photo essay, shoot us an email. We
won't pay you (we don't even pay ourselves), but we will give you full credit for any contributions.
Drop us a line anytime:
webmaster@taildraggersinc.com
Taildraggers,
Inc. Tip of the Day:
Join the Taildraggers, Inc. Forums!
We've added a
Forum to the
Taildraggers, Inc. website. It's completely free to register and
use. As a registered user, you can post new topics, reply to
existing topics, and communicate with other users via email and private
message.
We've
got Forums for
Hangar Flying,
Upcoming Events,
Aircraft Construction and
Maintenance,
Projects, and a completely free
For Sale / Wanted section.
The Forums are for you
to use, and they depend on you for their growth and content. You can
navigate to the Forums
by clicking on the "Forum" tab at the top of this page, or by clicking on
the "Discuss this in the Taildraggers, Inc.
Forum link at the
bottom of each daily update.
Take a minute to register, and become a member of the Taildraggers, Inc.
community. Once you do, post a new thread telling us a little bit
about yourself on the
New
Members area.
We're glad to have you.
WEF 1007310354
Discuss this in the Taildraggers, Inc.
Forum
The
$1 Pietenpol
This isn't a new story. If you've been around Pietenpols, or the
Brodhead Pietenpol
Association for very long, you've no doubt heard of the dollar Piet.
The story goes something like this:
N13961 was built by Edgar Russert of Lewiston, MN back in 1933 using the
plans from a 1932 Modern Mechanics magazine. Some time around 1935,
Russert sold the airplane to five friends, including Bernard Pietenpol,
for $50 a pop. Rumor has it that the airplane was involved in a
mid-air with some power lines, and after Pietenpol finished the repairs,
the airplane was sold to Allen Rudolph in 1941.
Rudolph flew the airplane to many fly-ins throughout Minnesota and
Wisconsin over the years, and eventually was part of the inspiration for
the forming of the Brodhead Pietenpol Association. The airplane
ended up at Brodhead for an extended stay due to a burned up piston in the
old Ford Model A engine. That was sometime in the 1980's. In
1993, Ted Davis and Jim Hammond led a group who recovered and and repaired
the now 60-year old airplane. That year, Allen Rudolph was once
again able to take to the skies in N13961.
The people involved in this airplane made a decision to "keep it in the
family", and not let it be sold to someone who would take it away from
Brodhead. Jim Hammond became the first owner after Allen Rudolph,
and then when he was ready to move on to something different it sold the
airplane to Ted Davis.
For one dollar.
Ted later sold the airplane to Frank Pavliga, who is the current owner.
Also for one dollar.
To read the Smithsonian's article on the One Dollar Piet, click
HERE
To visit the Brodhead Pietenpol Association, click
HERE
To buy a set of Pietenpol Aircamper plans, click
HERE
WEF 1007240055
Discuss this in the Taildraggers, Inc.
Forum
OSH
2010 Special
Free Mustang Aeronautics DVD
Mustang Aeronautics
is giving away copies of their Mustang Homebuilts DVD as an Oshkosh
special. The DVD features the history, design, construction, and
kits of the Midget Mustang and Mustang II aircraft. The DVD is a
combination of videos and photos slideshows.
I already have my Midget Mustang plans, and one of these days I'll pick up
a kit and start riveting aluminum, but until that time, I'll enjoy
watching my DVD!
If you would like to get a DVD of your own, visit the
Mustang Aeronautics web store by clicking on the red links in this
post, or the URL below.
Mustang Aeronautics Web Store
WEF 1007190341
The
Bosman RV-3 - Back to work! 7/45.5
It's been a while since I looked at the bones of my horizontal stab. So
long, in fact, that when I tiptoed the trail around the left wing and nose
of Cruella, who takes up most of the garage, I walked through cobwebs...
EEWW. It was just one of those weeks where work was long and I kept
forgetting to buy a new bandsaw blade.... cold beer & TV won the war most
evenings.
Today I finished making the elevator hinge brackets. FINALLY. New bandsaw
blade is WONDERFUL, like a hot spoon through ice cream. Also riveted
HS-309, the center bracket pair, together with their sandwiched bearing.
Drilling that proved to be more of a challenge than I expected. The center
hole was pretty easy-- I drilled a 1/8" hole in the center, then enlarged
it to 3/4" using 2 different Uni-Bits. I did not know how easy it is to
move a hole one way or the other with a uni-bit... my pilot holes were
perfectly aligned with each other, but by the time the big hole was
finished, they were off by 1/32". It was annoying, but not enough of an
error to cause any problems. Then, after deburring the holes thoroughly, I
slid the bearing in place, clamped it to one bracket with a Vise-Grip, and
drilled the rivet holes by placing the piece on the edge of the drill
press table, which was angled off to one side.
I
think there should be an EAA SportAir workshop called "Creative Clamping &
Drilling," because I need some work in that area. Ben helped out a little
here. The flanges of the bracket assembly had to be clamped to a flat
surface to assure their alignment and perfect fit with the spar surface,
so traditional vertical drilling was tough to do. (although now that I
think about it, I could have clamped them to a piece of angle instead of
the workbench... oh well.) While I match drilled the second bracket to the
bearing and the first bracket, I used a couple of rivets in the holes to
make sure the bearing stayed aligned with the drilled bracket. (that was
my idea.) Then, to make sure the brackets both sat flat, we clamped them
to the solid work table with a long-reach welding clamp and used the long
drill bit for the holes on the bottom that were too close to the table to
reach with the drill and short bit. It was weird because I'm not used to
drilling parallel to the ground, and I wanted to make sure the holes were
drilled straight. To make sure I had the 12" bit parallel to the table,
Ben showed me how to use your free hand as a gauge for drill bit height
above the work surface. If I placed my hand so that the bit was just above
the fingernail close to the work, then slid my hand back toward the drill
and put the bit in the same relative height above the same fingernail, I
knew the bit was parallel to the table. But then, as I applied pressure to
the drill, it bowed the bit a little, so I have to watch out for that.
I figure by the time this plane is done, I will be able to teach "Creative
Clamping and Drilling" myself.
Next, I laid out the brackets on the spar. I drilled a 1/16" pilot hole
for the eventual AN3 bolt holes so that I could stretch a piece of string
through there to get all of the brackets lined up along the spar
centerline. This will assure a straight hinge line with no binding, if it
all works as planned...
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007190327
The Great Waldo Pepper is Back on DVD
This is, in my opinion, the best aviation movie ever made. It is
also my opinion that everyone should have a copy of his or her own.
Unavailable for many years, the film is being re-released once again.
Get 'em while they're hot, boys and girls!
Buy it at
Historic Aviation
Buy it at
Amazon
It doesn't really matter where you buy it, just be sure to get a copy
before they're all gone!
WEF 1007161503
Discuss this in the Taildraggers, Inc.
Forum
The
Bosman RV-3
More Hinge Brackets & A Potential Disaster-- 4.5/37
Title says it all-- I cut 4 more elevator hinge brackets (HS-310) out of
that big hunk of angle stock, cut, smoothed and scotch-brited. Actually 5
if you include the one I screwed up on the band saw, which was an angry
SOB today for some reason. It has a new blade, but it started loading up
with aluminum and giving us fits.
Saw some new photos of another builder's tail-- Louise Hose and Paul Dye
are building a 3B. Their HS rear spar has flush rivets in the center to
allow for the stabilizer mounting bars that attach to F-310-- and Ben and
I said OH S***. Nothing was mentioned in the plans about this, but as Paul
pointed out on the VAF forum, you have to think ahead thoroughly on every
step and mentally put each piece together first to catch the many "gotcha's"
on the plans. I worried for a while about having enough edge distance
between the mount bolt holes and the extra rivet holes that I should not
have drilled, but we figure we can widen and adjust the mount bars to
either use or miss the rivet holes.
Shop
Talk for the day...
Ben fitted his wing fairings on Cruella, his RV-8, today. As he laid there
under the plane, he said "This makes me wanna barf!"
"What happened now?" I said, looking up from filing my piece of angle.
"This fits PERFECTLY!!" He just stared at his pre-drilled fairing in awe.
The predrilled holes in the fairings that came in the kit lined up
perfectly with the holes in the wing, which is a small miracle considering
there are 3 pieces of wing skin under the fairings.
"Well you should be happy then," I said as I filed some material off the
edges of my made-from-scratch hinge brackets and thought of the many
thousands of hours ahead of me creating parts from raw stock. "That makes
ME wanna barf!!"
First Tool Casualty-- 1.5/38.5
Spent most of the day taking a break for some NASCAR Truck action,
laundry, dishes, and other things a good "spousal-equivalent" should do--
(Ben's sister came up with that one, pretty good, huh?) Then went out to
make some more hinge brackets. Finished one outboard bracket before
jamming up the bandsaw and putting a kink in the blade. :-(
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007161453
Charlie Kulp to Fly Again July 18, 2010
Charlie Kulp is known throughout the airshow community as "The Flying
Farmer". Until his retirement in 2007, he had been thrilling crowds
as Silas Hicks, a country farmer who recklessly takes to the skies in a
Piper J-3 Cub. Charlie puts his J-3 through maneuvers he's been
quoted as saying the airplane "won't do". It's a family-friendly
performance sure to impress anyone who sees it.
Charlie has announced that he will be coming out of retirement to make a
special performance in honor of the Flying Circus Airshow's 40th
anniversary, and also to help raise funds for the development of a new
museum showcasing the history and collections of the Flying Circus.
If you're anywhere close to Bealeton, VA on the 18th, I strongly encourage
you to attend this performance. It may be the last time Charlie
performs his famous act. I'll be there with my family, and hope you
can make it out with yours.
FMI: Flying
Circus Airshow
The Flying
Farmer DVD
WEF 1007120342
Discuss this in the Taildraggers, Inc.
Forum
The
Bosman RV-3 - Match-drill HS-307's 1.5/27.5
Match-drilled the HS-307 horizontal stabilizer spar doublers to the
spar web this evening. The holes are pretty damn straight! The doublers
are deburred, but need more surface smoothing to remove the aggressive
file marks.
Primed & ready 1.5/29
Finished smoothing the edges of the HS-307 doublers on the comby wheel
(Scotch-brite wheel on the drill press). Ben adjusted it for me so it
would turn a higher RPM, which helped get most of the file marks out.
Deburred, Scotch-brited, cleaned, and primed all spar pieces. Ready to
rivet!
A
Riveting Experience. (ha ha ha) 1.5/30.5
Ben showed me how to set up the pneumatic rivet squeezer today. I've used
it before, but never on a piece with so much length and mass. We started
out clamping the squeezer to the work table and standing the spar up, but
it was too awkward to handle with all the weight of the clecos, so we laid
the spar down and freehanded the squeezer. Ben did the first rivet to see
how it worked, and then turned me loose. They turned out pretty well-- no
smileys, no lean-overs. A nice couple rows of Double-Stuffed Oreos on the
shop head side!!!
Elevator Hinge Brackets, Round 1-- 2/32.5
Fabricated a pair of HS-309 center elevator hinge bearing brackets out of
6061 angle stock using the band saw, disc sander, files and Scotch-Brite
(in that order!) Had a little Fat Tire to go with it...
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007120332
Building a Knight Twister :: In 1948
YouTube is almost as awesome as Google Books, but only because reading is
more stimulating that watching dumb videos. This video shows four
friends from Valparaiso bulding a Knight Twister from scratch. This
airplane was one of the few airplanes that attended the first EAA fly-in
in 1953.
This is an awesome video, not for it's content or special effects, but
because of it's vintage. Too cool.
There are two videos in this series, the second one is
HERE.
Thanks to Hal Bryan of the
Oshkosh365 forums for
sharing these videos.
If you'd like to build your own Knight Twister, contact
Steen
Aero Lab.
WEF 1007091502
Discuss this in the Taildraggers, Inc.
Forum
The
Bosman RV-3 - Rear Stab Spar 6/26
I finished filing the edges of the HS-307 rear spar doublers this morning.
Filing is fun for the first 4 or 5 hours, and then a person starts to go a
little insane. Once the doublers fit alright, I measured out the rivet
spacing, allowing for the elevator hinge brackets and the inboard rib.
Van's instructions specifically say "Triple Check your drill template." I
double, triple, quad checked the thing because after all that damn
FILING... well let's just say all I could think was "DON'T F*@# IT UP."
Finally marked & drilled the rivet holes on the drill press and as far as
I can see they are all OK. About a third of the day was spent helping Ben
set his flaps-- Cruella is finally looking like an airplane!
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007091437
Indoctrination
I get it. This is a joke. Playmobil doesn't actually
make a
TSA Security Checkpoint toy for kids, but it's still hilarious.
The "Reviews" are the best:
"I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the
functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the
passenger's shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail
file underneath the passenger's scarf, and neither the detector doorway
nor the security wand picked it up. My son said "that's the worst security
ever!"
What is this world coming to?
WEF 1007081420
The
Bosman RV-3 - "Women's-Work" Word of the Day: FILING 8/20
I figured today would be easy. Make a couple of aluminum doublers for the
rear Horizontal Stab spar, prep the spar web/flange, and put it together.
Well, it was "easy" in that it didn't take much brain power, but holy cow.
Between the initial filing and shaping it to fit within the bend radius of
the flange, I spent about 6 hours doing nothing but filing, and I'm still
only mostly done with the upper doubler! My upper arms and chest muscles
are screaming at me already. (If this continues I may get rid of my
Lunch-Lady arm flab, so NOT complaining!)
The photos show the HS kit before I started, with Ben's RV-10 and RV-8
horizontal stabs hanging on the wall. (Ben's 10 stab is the first "real"
airplane project I ever worked on.) The next photo is the raw bar stock
before I cut out the doublers. The last photo shows the upper doubler
almost filed to shape... it will have to wait til morning. Notice the
laid-out strip of belt sand paper I screwed to the table for use as a
"sanding block." Go to Katie's
blog to see the rest of the photos.
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007081406
The
Bosman RV-3 - More Clues: Wing Plans From Van's Dust Bin 1.5/9
The one major item missing from my pile-o-parts is the plans. Ben talked
with some folks at Van's last week and they managed to scrounge up some
old plans for the -3. (The lady over there said, "Make sure she knows they
are old-- REALLY old!")
Apparently they are whatever they could find from the 80s. The good news
is, they showed up in the mail today along with drawings, photos and
instructions for both change notices for the wing spars. Woo hoo! And, I
finally have written instructions on how to build the spars. (Van's old
typewriter-pounded instructions. Neat.) The problem is, Drawings 4 and 5
of the wing plan sheets are still missing. So, I don't know all of the
details about how to build the spars yet. The plans I do have are from
1984, which means they are the Type II spars. Even though my spar webs are
Type I vintage, I'll probably build the Type II wings which feature
thicker spar cap laminations. Someone stole the useful aluminum angle and
bar stock out of the kit anyway, so no biggie.
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007051356
Big
Blue H
We live in Northern Virginia, near the West Virginia border. High
pressure is nice for a day or two, but this is just getting ridiculous.
This High has worn out it's welcome, and it's time for it to go.
After all the fireworks on the 4th, the air is thick with haze. I
can barely see the mountain ridges just a few miles away. Yuck.
I never thought I would say this, but I can't wait for a red L or a jagged
blue line to push this blue H outta here and give us some RA to wash away
this HZ. As much as I don't like OVC and IMC, some TCU and a little FROPA
would really make me day.
You know what I'm sayin?
WEF 1007071343
The
Bosman RV-3 - Little Brown Packages 2.5/7.5
Spent a couple hours after work going through the famed little brown paper
bags labeled with Sharpie marker. Unfortunately most of the bags are
really old and fell apart in my hands, but some are still intact. I might
save a few for posterity. Organized all the AN hardware in a plastic tray
and made a list of all the rivets. Of course the rivet bags all had holes
in them...
Counting & sorting nuts gave me flashbacks of Kindergarten. Look Mr.
Hanson, wherever you are, I'm building a plane!!
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007051356
"FIFI"
I can't wait to see it fly.
FMI: Commemorative Air
Force
WEF 1007061345
Discuss this in the Taildraggers, Inc.
Forum
The
Bosman RV-3 - Inventory- 5/5
Today I spent about 5 hours opening boxes and laying out parts. I'll have
some old documentation and wing plans from Vans sometime this week, so
today I focused on the fuselage parts.
Some notable things:
1. The large formers are all in two pieces split down the vertical
centerline.
2. They have long squiggly stiffening indentations up the sides that look
as if they're done with an English wheel.
3. All the parts appear to be hand made, or at least hand-cut.
4. The brakes are wrapped in newspaper from December, 1981... "The
Oregonian"
5. Mark found a classified ad in the brake wrappings for an original Les
Paul guitar for $600! (He about fainted after finding that one.)
6. Some parts are marked with descriptions in blue sharpie... strangely
reminiscent of Van's comment on marking parts in Section 5...
7. Looks like all major fuselage parts are there except for the rear two
formers and the ones you have to fabricate. Longerons are missing,
however.
8. The canopy box is marked with a return address from Van's Aircraft
written in marker from Cornelius, OR.
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007031432
The West "by gawd" Virginian
I have a friend who knows the guy who built this RV-8, Kirk Groves. This
is a great piece by a local TV station in Georgia. It features a WWII
Veteran and a beautiful airplane. You've got to watch it for the story.
Here's a quote from Kirk, "...I flew up to KPDK and got ready for the
main event I got the incredible honor of meeting the man I think of as my
personal hero....I surprised Bob "Punchy" Powell at a dinner at the 57th
FG restaurant and got to show him my 8 painted in his honor. It was really
something at the table at sat at there was Punchy ( a WWII P-51 ace) a
SR-71 pilot ,a F/A-18 pilot who flew in the second Gulf war a ret AF
General and a Marine Harrier pilot and my new Friend Bill who flew
helicopters and A-10s :-) needless to say I spent the whole night with my
jaw on the floor listening to their stories. I don't say this lightly it
was one of the greatest experiences of my life!!!!"
I also saw that Kirk will be competing in the
Top of the
Chesapeake 150 Air Race in Elkton, MD on July 10, flying this same
airplane. We wish the best of luck in the race!
Kirk has more to say about this video over in the
VAF Forums.
WEF 1007031424
Discuss this in the Taildraggers, Inc.
Forum
The
Bosman RV-3 - Introduction
I went to MTSU for my aero-education,
and I met some really great people there. In a university setting,
you don't always find folks with a real passion for airplanes. Most
of 'em just want to be airline pilots, and could care less about GA.
To them, it's just a stepping stone. This is not the case with Katie
Bosman. Not only is she a certified airplane nut, she's also a
homebuilder and model airplane enthusiast. Her latest project is an
RV-3 that has been hiding in it's crates since the 1980's. She
picked it up in a deal too good to be true, and has now converted to
the "dark side" of homebuilding. She's become an RVator...
Katie has agreed to let me feature her blog and blog posts here in
Taildraggers, Inc. I hope you all enjoy reading along as she makes
small steps forward in what is sure to be a long-term project.
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007011432
The
Bosman RV-3 - The Decision
I had fun over the past year working on my "old" project, a scratch-built
Thatcher CX4, but every completed step led to the thought "OK, how will I
pay for -- ." The airframe is supposed to cost about $8000 to build, and
then there's engine, avionics, and all that. I hate pop rivets, so my CX4
rudder was built using dimpled flush solid rivets. It turned out quite
nice, if I may brag a little, so the plan was to build the entire plane
with them. I also wanted to add a small baggage compartment and a roll
bar, along with a Jabiru engine instead of the recommended VW. I probably
pissed a bunch of people off on the CX4 Yahoo group because I was always
trying to change their "perfect" airplane, but I don't care who you are,
no plane is perfect. I was almost out of tail material and wondering how
to pay for the next step, the wing spars.
One night a few weeks ago my boyfriend Ben, who gave me CX4 plans for my
birthday almost exactly one year ago, found an RV-3 kit on
Barnstormers.com. It was largely untouched and available for less than
half the cost of the materials I would need to purchase for the rest of
the CX4 airframe. He suggested hopping over the fence and into the RV
fold, of which he is a member... and every other homebuilder I know. I
laughed. Sure, it's a great deal, and the -3 has all the features I love
about airplanes and planned to build into the CX4, it's a proven design of
nearly 40 years, AND it's aerobatic-- I absolutely loved the idea-- but
how in the hell could I afford that?? Well... his dusty motorcycle went on
CraigsList the next day, and guess what? I am now custodian of a 30 year
old RV-3 in the box. I now have almost every airframe part I'll need to
build my own airplane. Happy Birthday to Me! (and Christmas, and
Valentines...) I love this man.
Anyway. Last Saturday, we drove 2 hours to go look at it along with our
RV-6A/7A builder-guru-technical counselor, Possum. (Yes, I said "Possum."
It's a long story.) We all agreed that it was pretty much complete and in
good shape, and so we agreed on a deal with the owner. Yesterday, we
filled the back of the truck and trailer with all the parts and hauled my
new-old project home.
The
owner had originally purchased a new tail kit with the intent of building
the entire plane from new kits, but found this project and bought it
instead. Now, he has found a flying 3 so he doesn't need the kit. Anyway,
I ended up with a finished original tail in airworthy but sort of ugly
shape, a new tail kit in the box, finished but beat-up flaps and ailerons,
and a bunch of untouched aluminum, fiberglass and hardware begging to be
unpacked.
This blog will hopefully serve as a builder log as well as a little portal
for friends, family and other RV-3 builders to see photos & methods as I
figure this little plane out. Each entry will have a number in the title
signifying hours spent for this entry/total hours spent on the project.
I'm surrounded by friends with boundless homebuilding knowledge and
wonderful tools they're willing to let me learn and use. The morning we
picked up my kit, a friend of ours who owns an RV-3 let me sit in his
plane. It was the first time I've ever sat in a 3 and it fit like a little
fighter-plane should! The best part-- this particular RV-3, N74TX, is the
last airplane that Tony Bingelis built. What a way to start this
adventure!
-Katie Bosman
The Bosman RV-3
Blog
WEF 1007011432
Looking for some more Aerotainment? Go to May & June 2010 :: OR :: Check out the Archives!
