For Sale

I have listed this project for sale on eBay including all parts, wood, engine, propeller, gas tank, safety harness, etc.

Canard Leading Edge #8

I must admit that plywood covering airfoils is a frustrating and demotivating task but I will press on through the process.  I lined up the plywood skin on the right side of the canard once more and marked the position of the spars, stringer, and ribs so I could see where not to apply varnish.  Then I put on the first coat of varnish.  My plan is to try to pre bend the skin using ammonia as has been done on other aircraft (www.robinultralight.blogspot.com).

Number of hours: 1.2
Total hours: 273.5

One more point of note, Sylvia Littner now has her own website advertising the Piel plans.  www.slittneraircraftplans.com

I think that she should stop marketing the plans for the Onyx because they appear to be incomplete and an amalgamation of at least three different revisions of the design.  I do not believe that the performance numbers on her site are correct and I do not know if a proper structural analysis has been done on the design that she sells.  It doesn't appear that anyone has ever completed an aircraft from her father's plans and she is unable to provide support for the design.  If you order the "Operations Manual" from her, you will receive the operations manual for the fiberglass version.  I intend to do, at least, a basic analysis before I complete this project to make sure that it is safe to fly.  The plans should not bear the name C.P.-150 Onyx or the name Claude Piel because they are vastly different from his design.  I am considering the purchase of the French plans at some point to see if they are any better but I suspect that they are the original short wing design.

Canard Leading Edge #7

I spent some time the other night test fitting the outboard leading edge panel to the right side of the canard so I could mark the locations of the ribs and spar on the wood.  I tried several different methods for strapping the plywood to the D-cell structure and I was surprised to find out that I got lucky when I attached the first panel because the panel needs to be attached to the top and then worked to the bottom.  Working from bottom to top is pretty much impossible.

Number of hours: 1.5
Total hours: 272.3

Wing Ribs #4

I was able to find some time to program the rudder ribs at the end of last week and then I machined the rest of the wing ribs along with the rudder ribs.  It is official, there are no more foam ribs to machine!  This morning I did think of a place on the fuselage that I could add a few pieces of foam, but that is a small task in comparison to the wings.

Today is the first day of Airventure; you should be there not reading this blog!  Unfortunately, I can't go this year but I hope to be back next year.

Number of hours: 1.8
Total hours: 270.8

Wing Ribs #3

I machined the first 33 ribs for the right wing after work yesterday.  I plan to machine the rest today but I need to get the rudder ribs programmed first.  We'll see what happens.

Number of hours: 2.0
Total hours: 269.0

Wing Ribs #2

I finished up the remaining five programs yesterday for the wing ribs.  This afternoon I machined two more sheets of foam in order to make the remaining parts for the left wing.  Labeling takes a lot longer than I expected.  Now I have 48 done and 48 to go!

Number of hours: 2.5
Total hours: 267.0

Wing Ribs #1

I'm sure that I recorded some time for working on the wing ribs previously but I didn't have my post naming convention finalized at the time so this post becomes #1 in the chain.  It is the end of finals week for the summer semester so I figured that I should start building airplane parts again.  I reviewed and reviewed the anti-tab issues over that past few weeks and decided that I am going to rebuild the whole thing.  There were just too many issues for me to fix in ways that would make me feel good about the project.  The "updated" canard sheet showed inconsistent dimensions so I had changed the canard spar from 1120mm to 1108mm which was mistake #1.  Mistake #2 was planning the mounting holes for the hinges but not the control fittings before I started making parts.  My plan is to move the outboard hinges inboard which will require extending a couple of spacers on the spars - easy to do when planned in advance.  I have to place an order with Aircraft Spruce for the wood to cover my mistakes so will move on to some other areas for now.  I machined a template yesterday to check the dimensions for my wing ribs and it came out perfectly so I decided to start getting the wing ribs made.  I spent some time today naming, laying out, programming, and machining the ribs.  There are 48 foam pieces in each wing and they are all unique.  I was able to get 15 of the 96 machined today.  There are 5 ribs that will require a secondary operation to make an undercut of 7.32 degrees.  I need to label each rib as they are machined so I put the orientation of the parts in the sheet along with the names on a drawing (picture shown below).  As before, the ribs are made from 32" X 48" X 1" Divinycell foam.

Number of hours: 3.5
Total hours: 264.5

Tab Facing Spar #9

I started preparing to mount the control fittings to the tab facing spar last night and I noticed a problem.  The mounting bolts interfere with the hinges.  It appears that there is an issue with the plans in this regard; so, if you are building this airplane, I suggest that you determine a plan of attack before sealing the anti-tab itself.  I am unable to change the locations of the nut plates as the tab is complete.  My option at this point is to move the control fittings into the inboard side of the tab facing spar and cut the two inboard sections from each of the outboard hinges.  It won't be a big deal but I wish that I would have caught it ahead of time so I could have made it work closer to the plans.  I still need to verify the location of the wing ribs on this part of the spar so I am unsure if my solution is 100% acceptable.

Number of hours: 0.5
Total hours: 261.0

Tab Facing Spar #8

I decided to drill the hinge holes in the tab facing spar last night.  The first step was to drill the mounting holes in the hinges 1/64" bigger than I made them originally.  Then I mounted the hinges to the anti-servo tab.  I drew a line on the face of the tab facing spar to locate the bottom of the hinges and then I clamped the tab facing spar to the previously mounted hinges.  Using the hinges as a guide, I drilled the mounting holes in the tab facing spar.

Number of hours: 0.7
Total hours: 260.5

Tab Facing Spar #7

I was doing so well working on this project and then part of the basement flooded so I had to deal with that for a couple of weeks.  I did work a little here and there until today.  I had to go to the pool store which is right next to the airport and being a beautiful day it would have been a wasted trip if I didn't take advantage of the situation.  I noticed about 6 cars in the EAA parking lot so I stopped in to see who was there and what was happening.  Then I logged 0.7 hours solo in the Archer.  I didn't realize it until I filled out my log book but this was my first solo flight in the Archer.  Flying and seeing other members' progress on their planes got me back into the workshop tonight.  I tapered the top and bottom of the tab facing spar and I cleaned the extra plywood from the webs that I glued on previously.  I started to study the rib spacing for the center section of the forward wing and I snapped a few photos for posterity.

Number of hours: 0.8
Total hours: 259.8

Tab Facing Spar #6

I cleaned the extra plywood off the anti-tab skins and trimmed the length of the anti-tab to its finished size.  I glued the webs to the tab facing spar.


Number of hours: 1.2
Total hours: 259.0

Anti-tab #13

I epoxied the top plywood skin on the anti-tab to the top of the anti-tab spar tonight.  Then I cut the inside webs for the tab facing spar.

Number of hours: 0.7
Total hours: 257.8

Idiot Proofing

I notched two of the canard ribs today for attachement of the anti-tab facing spar.  I then cut two of the stub ribs to half height.  The stub ribs hold the plywood sheeting around the anti-tab control horn passageway.  I labeled the top and bottom of all of the canard ribs and the front and back on the two half height stub ribs.

Number of hours: 0.5
Total hours: 257.1

Anti-tab #12

After slaving away at homework all day, I glued the upper skin to the anti-tab this evening.  I still have to glue the skin to the top of the anti-tab spar at another time as I made a mistake when building the tab spar and I didn't account for the taper.  I did this on all of the spars that I have made so far but it shouldn't be a big deal to resolve.

Number of hours: 0.7
Total hours: 256.6

Anti-tab #11

I put the final coat on the internal parts of the anti-tab and upper skin tonight.  Once again, no pictures because it still looks the same.  I played around with clamping methods to see the best way to glue the upper skin on to the rest of the anti-tab.  I tested a machine screw in one of the nut plates to see if the woodscrews and epoxy would hold up to the stress of tightening the machine screw; it passed with flying colors, of course!

Number of hours: 0.3
Total hours: 255.9

Anti-tab #10

I put the second coat of varnish on the internals of the anti-tab and upper skin last night.  It looks pretty much the same as my last post so I didn't take any pictures.

Number of hours: 0.3
Total hours: 255.6

Anti-tab #9

I cleaned up the excess plywood from the edges of the anti-tab lower skin and then I cut a top skin for the anti-tab out of 0.8mm plywood.  Then I traced out the internal structure of the anti-tab so I could know where not to apply varnish.  I put 1 coat of varnish on the top skin and 1 coat on the inside of the assembled anti-tab.

Number of hours: 0.7
Total hours: 255.3

Anti-tab #8

I glued the anti-tab spar to the lower control surface and the ribs last night.  It was a challenge to clamp it together.  I was thinking about this in bed during the wee hours of the morning and I couldn't think of a good reason as to why I didn't glue the ribs to the spar first, then the lower surface, and then the trailing edge; that would have been much easier.

Number of hours: 0.9
Total hours: 254.6

Anti-tab #7

I glued the remaining rib (control horn rib assembly) onto the anti-tab and then used the remaining micro to seal the nut plates on the anti-tab spar.  I haven't been building very much because of school and I have been enjoying learning how to fly the Archer.  I have 5.3 hours in the air so far this month and 0.4 in actual IMC, with my instructor of course.


Number of hours: 0.6
Total hours: 253.7

 

Check Ride

No building to report, but I took my private pilot check ride today and passed.  It was a beautiful day for flying and now I have my license to learn!

Anti-tab #6

I drew the control horn and machined it at work on Friday.  When I got home, I used my drill press like a hillbilly pin router and cut the pockets in the anti-tab ribs to fit the control horn.  I glued the two ribs to the control horn on Saturday.

Number of hours: 1.2
Total hours: 253.1

Anti-tab #5

I started tonight by cleaning up some excess glue on the anti-tab assembly.  Next, I hauled my drill press inside, as it is too cold to work in the garage, and drilled mounting holes in three sections of hinges.  After drilling the hinges, I drilled holes in the anti-tab spar to mount the hinges.  Next, I mounted nut plates on the anti-tab spar.  I finished up the night by clearancing the foam ribs of the anti-tab assembly for the nut plates.

Number of hours: 1.5
Total hours: 251.9

Anti-tab #4

I glued another rib on the anti-tab on Saturday and another one last night.

Number of hours: 0.4
Total hours: 250.4