Per request, Pics and paragraphs regarding my Stinker airframe build. Bear in mind it's colder than Billy-hell outside, too cold to heat the hangar, so I'll take the liberty of having some fun with the writing too.
A bit about me and this effort. I have wanted to do this for nearly my entire life. I was run out of the grocery store more than once for spending too much time at the magazine rack reading popular mechanics articles i.e. the Bowers Fly Baby and anything about aviation. It's my bucket list top priority.
I like to weld. It was hot in the hangar while welding the basic fuselage, the head, arm and posture positions caused me to hurt like heck at night. But I'd do it again, and if I live long enough this will not be my last fuselage. Don't care much for the woodwork, I've done that before on a Stearman and Starduster. For me, this is a learning experience more than to have a plane to fly. I have a nice Starduster II. I try to do everything on my own with amateur tools and knowledge but have asked the machine shop for help when accuracy is critical i.e. landing gear attach bolt positions.
Having a set of Bingilis books is good. Learning a few measuring techniques that reduce the accumulation of errors is also good. Patience is a plus. I have a lot of patience for this now, but 50 years ago ... not so much.
Plans arrived late January 2017. Loaded down EAA Solidworks and studied plans daily. I taught myself to use Solidworks to layout the fuselage and create templates for coping tubing ends. Lots of cursing involved in learning Solidworks. The girlfriend got to know the real me and the poolhall expletives perfected in my youth.
Built the table mid-March using two hollow core doors overlaid with two sheets of MDF. Not perfect, but good enough as my fuselage is quite accurate. Electronic Level for table flatness and level. I used it for the incidence of the wing fittings and I-struts too.
The top ladder was laid out first, from an initial centerline drawn from a taught string. It was tacked two or three times at each station and set aside. The lower ladder was laid out and constructed. I used Daron's (2Wings.com) method of building accurate wooden jigs and placing the bottom ladder above the top and heating the tubing with a torch letting it sag into position one station at a time. Intermediate tubes were cut and fit for each station as I went giving rigidity for the next heated bend. Some of the (longerons) of the cockpit had bidirectional bends that I prebent on a steel plate with large heavy wall tubes bolted vertically to the plate and the bench below it. The first time in my life, not easy, but it turned out ok. I put sand in the tubes, capped them and bent them cold with a whopping long cheater. Slowly! No buckles.
I'd consider buying the tubing kits offered by VR3 Engineering if I were to build another. The money would not be more than $1500 dollars more than the metal in the basic fuselage.
One more station to bend.
I have a couple of hundred photos. That's all for now, but I'll come back and add more soon ...
A bit about me and this effort. I have wanted to do this for nearly my entire life. I was run out of the grocery store more than once for spending too much time at the magazine rack reading popular mechanics articles i.e. the Bowers Fly Baby and anything about aviation. It's my bucket list top priority.
I like to weld. It was hot in the hangar while welding the basic fuselage, the head, arm and posture positions caused me to hurt like heck at night. But I'd do it again, and if I live long enough this will not be my last fuselage. Don't care much for the woodwork, I've done that before on a Stearman and Starduster. For me, this is a learning experience more than to have a plane to fly. I have a nice Starduster II. I try to do everything on my own with amateur tools and knowledge but have asked the machine shop for help when accuracy is critical i.e. landing gear attach bolt positions.
Having a set of Bingilis books is good. Learning a few measuring techniques that reduce the accumulation of errors is also good. Patience is a plus. I have a lot of patience for this now, but 50 years ago ... not so much.
Plans arrived late January 2017. Loaded down EAA Solidworks and studied plans daily. I taught myself to use Solidworks to layout the fuselage and create templates for coping tubing ends. Lots of cursing involved in learning Solidworks. The girlfriend got to know the real me and the poolhall expletives perfected in my youth.
Built the table mid-March using two hollow core doors overlaid with two sheets of MDF. Not perfect, but good enough as my fuselage is quite accurate. Electronic Level for table flatness and level. I used it for the incidence of the wing fittings and I-struts too.
The top ladder was laid out first, from an initial centerline drawn from a taught string. It was tacked two or three times at each station and set aside. The lower ladder was laid out and constructed. I used Daron's (2Wings.com) method of building accurate wooden jigs and placing the bottom ladder above the top and heating the tubing with a torch letting it sag into position one station at a time. Intermediate tubes were cut and fit for each station as I went giving rigidity for the next heated bend. Some of the (longerons) of the cockpit had bidirectional bends that I prebent on a steel plate with large heavy wall tubes bolted vertically to the plate and the bench below it. The first time in my life, not easy, but it turned out ok. I put sand in the tubes, capped them and bent them cold with a whopping long cheater. Slowly! No buckles.
I'd consider buying the tubing kits offered by VR3 Engineering if I were to build another. The money would not be more than $1500 dollars more than the metal in the basic fuselage.
One more station to bend.
I have a couple of hundred photos. That's all for now, but I'll come back and add more soon ...
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