Doors installed

[EricP]

Right side doors installed

[whee]

Looks great! Tells us more about those metal gear fairings and take some closer pics of them. My Luscombe had the same kind of thing and I've been thinking about doing the same on my BH.

[EricP]

I will try to upload some more pics of them. We came up with the design on our own but we think it looks great (not that we are biased or anything!). The design is just a wrap of sheet aluminum around the gear. Very simple. We think it is easier than the fabric covering.

[EricP]

Here are the pics I took tonight of our gear leg fairing.

[EricP]

Oops! One more pic!

[JimParker256]

Eric,
I like it -- it looks very neat and clean. Did you do anything to prevent air (or water) entering from the large opening at the top of the fairing? Are you planning some sort of "boot fairing" where it meets the fuselage?

[whee]

Thanks for the pictures Eric. Those fairings look really good.

[EricP]

Jim, We are planning on adding a boot on top between the gear leg and fuselage of some sort eventually. We really aren't worried about water as it will just drain right out. I think it looks tighter at the bottom of the leg in the picture than it really is. The top brace of the gear leg kinda fills the "mouth" of the fairing at the top but the fairing extends beyond it so it would be possible for something to drop into the inside of the fairing. Otherwise I don't think it will be an issue but we do want it closed up on top at some point. Later Brent wants to make some HUGE wheel pants that will cover the whole gear leg/axle intersection. We are trying for a "retro" look, sort of 1930's/1940's with lots of curves.

[EricP]

Whee, thanks for the kind words! We are pretty pleased with how the gear leg fairings worked out. We thought they were
​​pretty simple and straight forward to make (for metal working). They almost made themselves! We put the initial bend at the leading edge in and then just shaped it around the gear leg by folding it back. It pretty much made the nice taper on it's own! We just closed it at back and trimmed it up and riveted it closed. We used flush rivets "because we can".

If every speed clean up trick we used on the plane worked like we dream the thing would cruise at 400 knots!

[mswain]

Are they attached in any way, or they don't move the way they are? Is that .025? They look real nice.

[EricP]

MSwain, They are wrapped tightly enough that there is no mechanical attachment. Trust me, they won't go anywhere! They were very simple to make as they are just wrapped around the legs.

Between the angle of the gear legs keeping them from moving up and the step on the back edge there is simply nowhere for them to go. We pulled the skin tightly enough that there is no real slippage. I can get a slight movement up or down but it is just a fraction of an inch if I "hammer it". There is no slippage around the gear at all. I will have to check with Brent on whether it was .025 or .032.

Thanks, we are really pleased with how well they turned out! I think I should have named this the gear leg thread!

Edit: we used .025

[EricP]

Got the rear seat fully installed today. Floor riveted down. Brent is working on the electrical installation in the panel.

Brent is installing a combo fuse block and switching panel that will save money and weight. Should be very interesting. Notice our "custom" rudder pedals along with nickel plated control sticks and flap handle. We have the fuel selector installed on left side of boot cowl.

[EricP]

Got the basic wiring done. No avionics at this point and no "consumers" hooked up yet but ready for a test run with a car battery!

[EricP]

Here are pics of the nose cowling being installed. Everything has been test fitted and now we are putting it together! Nose bowl is hand made by Brent from flat sheet aluminum. We have not put the cowl hoods on yet. We plan on having a tech inspection first. Then button it all up once we are happy with it.

[EricP]

Seats going in for final install. More "tweaking" will be needed but everything works. On the cowl it's clecos out and screws in! We are getting a very nice close fit on the right side of the lower cowl to the nose bowl. The right side is getting a bit of "puckering". However, we have not tightened up everything yet. Something tells me Brent will "encourage it" to snug up a bit more before we are done!